Hell in a New World
by Escachick357
Summary: Shanks has dealt with a lot in his life, but now it's time for his biggest challenge yet...teaching a class of High School Hellraisers. Can he do it? Or will he quit like everyone else has? Not an AU.
1. Chapter 1

Hell in a New World

By: Escachick357

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or anything of the One Piece sort except for a few stories that I had already written and a few little One Piece trinkets I purchased with my own money.

A/N: This is a story that I'm trying to make a dramatic-humor story out of (which I probably will not succeed in doing, but it can't hurt to try). This does not star any of the Straw Hat Pirates, but instead it stars Shanks and his crew. I might mention Luffy or Usopp in this story, but they will not be making an appearance in this story. Just a warning though, things may seem ooc, so please don't send me reviews saying "this is impossible. This could not happen in One Piece." I got enough of that when I got e-mails about _The Melody of the Seas_ and I don't want any more...besides, this is a fanfic. In fanfics, anything can happen. I also do not know much about Shanks' crew. I only know very little about five crew members so I'm going to be making up some crew members, but don't worry. The new crew members won't have big parts in this story so you won't get confused.

And now, onto my story...

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The Red Hair Pirates sailed through the wild, untamed waters of the West Blue. Half of the crew was standing upon the deck of the ship, steering with the steering wheel and working with the sails to help prevent the heavy waves from tipping the ship over while the other half was just trying to stand. So far, the working members were unsuccessful. The ship was tossing through the seas and if the crew couldn't do anything to prevent it from tossing, then the ship would tip over and the crew would be lost.

The captain of the ship, "Red-haired" Shanks, looked around at the heavy waves and at the scared, scrambling crew. The storm that was coming onto the pirate ship was showing no signs of it ending. In fact, it looked like the storm was getting fiercer and winning the battle between the ocean and the pirates. Shanks was running out of orders to shout to his scared crew since none of his previous ones were doing any good.

The ship's navigator's nose twitched. The smell of burning acid filled the sea, a smell that was never smelled upon the ocean. It was something like battery acid that was burning by some sort of torch. He looked up and his eyes widened. "Captain! Look!" The navigator screamed, pointing at the sky.

In the sky was a blue-green swirling vortex. Coming out of the vortex were lightening bolts...and the ship that was barely surviving the heavy storm was heading right towards the vortex.

"Move to the left! Hurry!" Shanks shouted to the navigator and the rest of his crew.

The crew again scrambled around the deck, attempting to move the ship to the left to avoid the vortex. Unfortunately, the sea was having different ideas. The waves of the storm were much too strong for the ship to handle and the pirate ship helplessly headed for the vortex. Almost immediately, Shanks knew that it was useless to fight against a storm as great as this one.

"Everyone! Get into the ship!" Shanks shouted to the crewmen on the deck. The crewmen fearfully followed orders and ran inside the ship. The door to the ship's inside slammed shut and all the crewmen were breathing hard.

"What are your next orders, Captain?" a crewman asked.

"Hold on tight to something and pray that the ship doesn't break apart or sink." was all Shanks could say.

The ship began to shake wildly and the crewmen grabbed chairs, counters, the table, and each other as they saw items flying across the ship with nobody touching them. They were being thrown with such velocity, it was unbelievable.

"Captain? Do you think we're going to die?" the youngest crew member, a young boy the age of twenty and the crew's chef by the name of Saiyoru, asked in a scared voice.

Shanks was about to yell at Saiyoru to be a man, but then remembered that this guy was very sensitive, not to mention that the rest of the crew was scared to hell, too. The ship was tossing and turning so roughly that even the bravest man in the world would be scared to hell.

Suddenly, the ship began to move at a fast speed forward. The captain figured that the ship had finally entered the vortex and the crew was now becoming reckless as the speedy ship shook even more wildly than before.

All the crewmen closed their eyes and clutched what they were holding onto even tighter. Some of them even began screaming. The whole experience, which probably lasted only about five minutes at the most, was horrifying and scary.

Finally, the movement of the ship slowed down dramatically. No longer was the ship tossing around roughly with the waves of the wild West Blue sea. In fact, it felt as if the sea was calm and tranquil unlike the wild ocean they were sailing in.

A few minutes passed and the ship was still sailing calmly through the ocean. Shanks believed that it was safe to go out onto the deck and that it would be a good idea since they could figure out if they were in a different place rather than when they were originally sailing.

The entire crew ran upon the deck of the ship and searched around. They were definitely off course. The waves were not wild at all, but instead calm. The acid smell was replaced with a smoky smell.

Shanks looked ahead and right in front of the ship was a large dock with several boats tied to it. Behind the dock was a little town. There were about four restaurants aligning the streets with open windows. The smell of different foods flew out of the open windows and went to the sea.

"Land ho!" Shanks shouted, "Now pull into port!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" the crew shouted. The crewmen worked together and moved the ship into an empty space on the dock. The anchor was dropped and the sails were tied up.

The whole process took probably about ten minutes before the crew was ready to relax or explore the town. Most of the crew stayed above the ship while only four crewmen: Shanks, Ben, Yasopp, and Lucky, went wandering around the town.

They stepped upon the sidewalk in front of a pub and saw what looked like metal carts painted all different colors all parked in front of stores. They weren't even moving, so the streets were safe to walk in.

Streets were safe and quiet...until a cherry red metal cart without a roof like the ones that weren't moving had, came driving down the streets. A beep came out of it as the cart screeched to a halt.

In an act of defense, Yasopp took a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at the driver of the cart. Shanks took a good look at the people in the cart. There was a boy with messy blonde hair holding a steering wheel. Sitting next to him was a young red-haired girl with a cigarette in her fingers.

"Hey! Get the fuck out of the road!" the boy shouted.

Shanks looked from Yasopp to the boy. The boy didn't seem to pose any threat even though he did have a mouth on him. "Put the gun away." Yasopp listened to his captain and put his gun away.

Before anybody could say anything, a man in a suit like the Marines walked out of a restaurant and walked up to the car. His attention was not focused on the pirates, but upon the boy and girl.

"Okay, Hooker. What's going on out here?" the man asked with a bit of annoyance in his voice. The boy didn't answer, but the girl did, "It's called driving, Officer Dumbass."

"Quit being a smart-ass, Anders." The officer said. He leaned in towards the girl. The girl took a long drag of her cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke into the officer's face.

The officer coughed and said, "Hey, shouldn't you two be in school?"

"Teacher quit, so we don't gotta go." The boy announced.

The officer grunted, "Another one? That's the seventh one this year. What the hell is the matter with you kids? You guys are making this place look bad."

"Whatever." The girl muttered.

The boy honked the horn of his vehicle suddenly, causing the people in front of the car to jump out of the way. He then started the cart and sped off down the road with the girl. A faint trail of smoke from the cigarette followed the car before disappearing.

The officer headed for his own cart and drove off in the opposite direction of the cherry red one that fled. Unlike the officer's cart, there was no small, faint trail of smoke following it.

As he watched both carts disappear, Shanks clicked his tongue. "Well, this place is a little different than the other islands we've been on. Now we just need to find out where we are exactly.

Suddenly, the scared Red Hair Pirate's chef came running to the group of four standing in the street. "Captain!" the chef shouted fearfully.

"What is it, Saiyoru?" Shanks asked in a voice that was a mix of annoyance and tranquillity.

"If we're going to stay here, then we have a problem. Money is different here. Nobody has even seen our money, so it's useless to stay here. I'm not lying. A fisherman down by our ship came by and looked at some money we had and called it 'Monopoly Money' and that it was useless to use this money. They call the money here dollars." Saiyoru explained breathlessly.

"Did you find out where we are?" Shanks asked.

"Yeah. Wataru found that we are in some place called Starlight Island. All he was told was that the island is small." The chef explained about what the navigator had found out.

Shanks walked back to the ship and looked around towards where the vortex was last seen. It was nowhere to be seen and from the looks of the surroundings, if the crew was ever going to go back to the West Blue seas, it wasn't going to be anytime soon.

Shanks called his crew onto the deck and prepared to make an announcement that could possibly shock the rest of the crew.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Saiyoru asked.

"Men, it seems as if we are stuck here on Starlight Island. So we are going to have to find some place to get some useful money. So, anybody have any good ideas?"

Nobody had any...namely because they knew nothing about this new land they forcibly sailed upon. Finally, Ben had an idea. He raised his hand and suggested that a few crewmen work at some of the bars on the island. There would possibly be some place that would hire them since everyone on board was technically an adult.

The crewmen decided that six of them would go searching for any place that would hire them, whether it be bars or not, and pay a good amount of money to support the whole crew for however long they would stay here on the island. The six that were chosen were by drawing straws. Shanks was unfortunately one of the chosen.

About an hour or so later, Shanks and the five others were wandering the streets, looking for jobs. Of the five bars in town, only one was hiring bartenders. That job went to one of the six. Shanks was not that one.

The remaining five wandered the island and all but Shanks were able to find jobs. One member got a job at a pawn shop, another at a large antique shop, a third got a job cleaning up at a pet shop, and Saiyoru got a job as an assistant cook at a restaurant called "O'Malley's."

The restaurant job was not easy to get. Both Saiyoru and Shanks worked to get that job and were almost turned away because they had no resumes and they refused to tell the boss about their earlier job: piracy...although Saiyoru did say that he worked in a restaurant as a chef and it wasn't a lie. A test was used on both of them: cook a gourmet dinner. While Shanks burned the food and used the wrong ingredients, Saiyoru passed and got the job.

Shanks tried in other places that were hiring: a doctor's office, a dental clinic, an insurance agency, and a lawyer's office, but all required the schooling and resume that he didn't have. Everything seemed hopeless for the captain as he walked back to the ship. "So, Captain. How'd the jobs go?" Wataru, the navigator, asked from atop the crow's nest.

Shanks let out a frustrated sigh as he exclaimed, "I couldn't find any good place. They all wanted experience and schooling. God, there's no good jobs here for a captain."

"So, you want a good job, eh?" A voice from behind Shanks asked. The captain turned around and saw another man with wild salt-and-pepper hair in his early to mid forties.

"Who are you?" Shanks asked.

The man held out his hand and said, "Name's Billy Plumb. I'm a fisherman. Now, I know where you can get a good paying job without any of that fancy schooling. My brother quit his job yesterday and the position is open. Pays pretty good, too. $600 a day, but the price'll probably rise."

"Why did he quit?"

"Beats me, but I know you don't gotta have schooling for this job and this is the job that pays the most here in this town." Billy took out a paper and wrote and address on it along with a name. He handed it to Shanks and said, "Go to Pat Manson and say that you want to work in room 314. I think the place is still open."

Shanks quickly thanked Billy and headed towards the address. He quickly found himself standing in front of a five story brick building with the words "Morning Glory High School" on it. A bad feeling over came his body as he walked inside. The hallways were empty.

As he walked, a short girl in low rider jeans came walking in the opposite direction. As she passed him, Shanks placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl quickly turned around and instead of asking him if she could help him like all the other girls he had met before, she kicked him in the stomach hard enough to send him flying into a nearby door, causing it to fly off its hinges.

A slightly overweight man about Shanks' age walked up to Shanks and helped him onto his feet. He then turned to the girl, who was now walking towards the exit of the school. "Miss Morrow! Miss Morrow! Get back here!" he shouted at the girl. The girl ignored him and kept walking until she finally left. The man sighed and turned his attention back at Shanks, "Sorry about her. We're trying to control her."

"It's okay. Hey, I'm looking for Pat Manson." Shanks said.

The man nodded, "That's me. People here call me Principal Manson."

"I'm here to get a job in room 314."

"Wonderful. First I need to ask you some things: Do you have any experience in teaching or leading?"

"Yes. I lead a group of explorers."

"Of those people, have they ever been young?"

"Yes." Well, Saiyoru was young.

"Are you willing to keep everyone in line and follow school rules?"

"Yes."

"You got the job. It pays $800 a day for every full day. Be here at 7am every Monday to Friday. The days end at 2:30pm."

"So, what do I do?"

"You will be teaching room 314, the Super Special Kids."

"I'm teaching the handicapped?"

"No, we have enough teachers for Special ed. The Super Special Students are...different."

"Like how?"

"...you'll find out tomorrow."

Shanks nodded and left the school. He was happy, but also a little suspicious. He had a job that paid a lot, but he had no clue what sort of kids he was going to be teaching or what he was supposed to be doing. The principal didn't even ask for his name. He just gave the pirate a job. When he got back to the ship, he happily told his crew, "I got a job. I got to teach a group of kids at some school."

Some of the crewmen thought that was funny in a comical way. The pirate captain being stuck in a room filled with kids. They all had to admit that it sounded funny. They even began laughing.

The next day, Shanks got woken up by the church bells. He turned to the clock and saw that it was 6am. Letting out a groan, the captain climbed out of his bed and tip-toed through the room she he wouldn't wake up the sleeping crewmates.

Fortunately for him, Saiyoru was awake and already making breakfast. The smell of eggs, bacon, and pancakes awoke the rest of the crew and brought them to the table. As requested of the captain, all the working men got first dibs on breakfast.

Breakfast lasted for only a half hour before Shanks left to get ready for work and leave for school.

The hallways of Morning Glory High School were now full of students laughing and chatting loudly. He walked to the broken door that he was thrown through the day before. Principal Manson smiled and walked up to Shanks. "You actually came. I'm glad you did. Most teachers don't come on their first day."

"No problem. So, can you show me where room 314 is?"

"Sure. Before we go, I want to give you this." Principal Manson handed Shanks a key. "This key opens up your desk, which has the schedule, the books the students are to be reading, and a little bit of information about each student."

"How many students are there?"

"Let's see...Lexis, Perry, Anders, Hooker, Morrow, Weber, Cartier, and Marxus...eight." He walked up four flights of stairs to the top floor. He stopped in front of a large door. "This is your classroom. I hope you can handle the students. Are you ready?"

Shanks nodded, "I am." He placed a hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

0000000000000000

A/N: Okay, this is the first chapter of this story. I know it sucked, but the next chapters are going to be a whole lot better. I also had to make up some people in the crew because it is really really really hard to find information about Shanks' pirate crew. I actually had to look at all my old One Piece episodes to know some of the names of a few characters on the crew. Oh, and the "carts" are supposed to be cars since I don't know if cars exist in One Piece. Starlight Island is a name made up by me.


	2. The First Day of Hell

Ch. 2- The First Day of Hell

As soon as the door opened, a bottle full of alcohol came hurling towards the door. It crashed upon the wall next Shanks' head. Alcohol spilled from the broken bottle onto the pirate captain's head and neck.

Shanks stepped back and rubbed some of the alcohol away from his eyes. "What the hell?" he asked out loud.

Principal Manson sighed and stepped into the room. Shanks followed him.

Once he got inside, he looked around the room at his new students. Instead of there being eight students, there were nine. The small girl that crashed him through the door the day before was sitting behind a desk with a glass bottle full of a brown liquid in her hand. Standing next to her was a taller boy in black holding a thick book in his hands while shouting praises at her. The boy and girl that almost ran into him the day before with their red cart were there, too. The girl was holding another cigarette between two fingers and was leaning against the boy, who had an arm wrapped over her shoulder and was moving his head to her earlobe.

Another girl with a large stomach was chatting with a spiky haired boy while a girl with violet eyes sketched them. The oldest person in the classroom that was not Shanks or the principal was a man in his mid 20s. He was preparing to light a small, rolled up cigarette that was being held by a younger boy.

Principal Manson looked around the room and turned to the small girl. "Miss Morrow? Did you throw the bottle at the door?" he asked.

"What if I did?" the small girl asked in a bored voice. Her face had an angry look that clearly read "Don't mess with me because I can and will hurt you." Apparently, Principal Manson had noticed it and turned away from her. Now he chose to yell at the other students. "Miss Anders, put out that cigarette!" he yelled at the red haired girl.

"Bite me, Manson." the cigarette girl said after taking a puff of her cigarette. She let out a soft giggle as the blonde boy began to suck on her neck.

"Mr. Hooker! Knock it off!" Principal Manson shouted at the blonde boy.

Instead of answering in words like the girls had, he flipped the principal the bird and continued his business.

Principal Manson sighed and turned to Shanks. "They're all yours. Have fun with them and I hope you survive the first day." he told Shanks before heading out of the room quickly.

As soon as the principal left, the man student walked over to the small girl's desk. He shoved the boy with the large book out of the way and handed a canteen to the small girl. "Hey, Elie. Try this one out. Betcha won't get it." He challenged the girl.

The small girl grabbed the canteen, twisted off the top, and lifted the canteen to her lips. Her face showed no expression as she took a sip of whatever was inside the canteen. She swallowed and said in a partially loud voice, "Vodka and Tabasco Sauce."

The man student groaned and took the canteen away from the girl. "Damn! You got it again!" He headed towards the red haired smoker and held up his weak cigarette, "Hey, Maura. You got a light?"

The smoker, who was now busy sucking upon the blonde boy's neck, reached into her pocket and handed the man a lighter. The man smiled and used the lighter on his cigarette before placing the lighter back on the desk.

Shanks sweatdropped as he turned to the class and announced, "Ummmm...hi. I guess I'll be your new teacher. My name is Shanks."

The boy with the spiky hair looked at Shanks and said, "Oui femm hud meja bycd dra vencd tyo."

Shanks blinked at the boy's remark. What the hell did he say? "Anybody know what he said?" he asked the class.

The girl sketching said, "He said 'You will not live past the first day.'"

Okay, that was making him feel a little uncomfortable. The boy didn't speak his language and he basically said that Shanks was going to die. Something told him that the boy was probably telling the truth. Maybe the boy and the others had something planned for him or at least he was positive that the spiky boy and the small girl did. Shanks let out a sigh and walked to his desk and unlocked it with the key the principal gave him. There wasn't much in the desk. Just a paper with the student's names as well as the addresses of their homes, a few books, a bottle of aspirin, and about six packs of cigarettes. He had a feeling he knew who the cigarettes belonged to.

Shanks grabbed the cigarettes and handed them to the smoker, who was now finished sucking on the blonde boy's neck. "Do these belong to you?" he asked.

The smoker looked at the packs and immediately grabbed them. "They do now." She answered. She quickly stuffed them inside her desk.

"Hey, who the hell are you?" the girl with the big stomach asked as she combed her long, blonde hair with her fingers.

"He's our newest victim." The smoker answered as she took another puff.

The boy with the big book walked over to the smoker and sprayed water from a little flask onto her. "Lord, please spare this young girl's sinning soul!" he shouted.

"Get that crap off of me!" the smoker shouted as the water rolled off her skin and onto her desk, "You're getting my cigarettes soaked. Besides, you don't even belong here. Get back to your own damn classes." The boy with the big book ignored her.

"Ummm...okay. I'm going to call roll and when your name gets called, say 'here' and tell me something about yourself." Shanks announced. He looked at the paper with the names and called, "Maura Beth Anders." He already knew that the girl smoked and people called her "Anders", but he wanted to know something else about her. "Okay, Maura Beth, I already know you smoke, so tell me something else about yourself."

"I can kick your ass any day of the week…and don't call me 'Maura Beth'. Just call me Maura." The smoker, Maura, said after taking yet another puff.

Shanks sweat dropped again. Maura was started to act like the small girl that kicked him through the door the day before and she sounded scary. He turned back to his paper and called out the next name on the list, "Larry Cartier?"

The oldest student said, "I'm twenty-five years young and love to smoke pot."

Twenty-five and still in school? _This guy must be a real dumbass_. _Well, might as well continue_. "Kyler Hooker?"

The boy with the messy blonde hair only said, "I love to party."

"Johnny Lexis?"

"E csamm taydr uh oui, Jeldes." The spiky haired boy answered.

"What did you say?" Shanks asked the class.

The sketching girl said, "He said 'I smell death on you, Victim.'"

Shanks was still uncomfortable. So far he had two girls that wanted to beat his ass and another boy that threatened him with death. Maybe that was the reason why the last teacher quit. "Victoria Marxus?"

The girl sketching stopped and said, "I'm Johnny's translator." She then continued on with her sketching.

Okay, maybe this girl wouldn't be a bad one. Now it was time to continue. The next name on the list was "Elin Morrow" and he knew who that was...the small girl. "Elin Morrow?" he called. The girl didn't say anything. She didn't even look at him. "Anybody know why she isn't saying anything?" he asked the class.

"Elie doesn't do anything unless she wants to." Larry answered.

Even though he probably shouldn't have tried to get to know the small girl, Shanks wasn't going to give up. He walked over to Elie and placed a hand under the girl's chin and lifted her face. He noticed that she had blue-green eyes that went really nice with her soft brown hair, but her face was all bruised up.

With no expression on her face, Elie pointed a gun that looked...like his in Shanks' face. Shanks placed his hand on his side where his gun was made to be, but it was not there. Elie had his gun. "How did you get that, Elie?" he asked.

"She steals." Larry explained.

"Well, it's a good thing the gun isn't loaded." Shanks said. Wrong thing to say. A bullet from his gun was fired and whizzed by his ear and hit the blackboard. She stole a bullet from his pocket, too. Slowly he backed away from Elie with his arm up, surrendering to her. Now he was definitely afraid of this one girl because she could kill him and more than likely would if she got angry with him. He held up the paper and called the next name on the list, "Lynn Perry?"

The girl with the big stomach said something that Shanks had never heard somebody say in an introduction about themselves, "My water just broke."

"Your water just broke? What does that mean?" Shanks asked dumbly even though he knew what the "water broke" meant. He'd known for years but he didn't believe that he'd be hearing it any time soon.

"She's having her baby, stupid." Maura said loudly.

"Oh, it's my turn to deliver!" Larry shouted, hopping over to where Lynn stood with her hands on her stomach.

"Whoa. Wait a minute..." Shanks started. Everybody ignored him and gathered around Lynn.

At the same time, Maura and Kyler ran to Shanks' desk and threw off everything that was sitting on the top. With the help of Victoria, Johnny, and Larry, Lynn was laying down on top of the desk in an unfamiliar position to the temporary teacher. He knew how babies were made and how they were brought into the world. He'd known about that since he was a kid, but he'd never expected to actually see the kid coming out of its mother unless, of course, the kid was actually his. This one wasn't.

He paled as he heard screaming coming from the girl laying on top of the desk, "Get me something! This really hurts!...Maura, don't give me one of those damn cigarettes! I'm not going to choke on those things while I'm getting this kid out of me!"

Elie grabbed her glass container and handed it to Lynn. "Drink this." she muttered.

"What is it?" Lynn cried.

"Vodka and fruit juice." Elie explained, "It will calm you down."

Lynn grabbed the container and quickly gulped the liquid down. She then threw the container to the ground and continued on with her screaming.

Shanks turned away as he heard Larry shouted, "Hey, I can see the head!" Another scream from Lynn came followed by a baby's cry and a heavy thump on the ground.

"It's a girl...but she has a penis." Kyler announced.

"You dumbass, it's a boy." Larry shouted. He turned to Maura and asked, "How the hell do you put up with such an idiot?"

"Give me my kid!" Lynn screamed before Maura could answer. Larry wrapped the baby in Lynn's coat and handed it to her. Almost instantly, the baby stopped crying.

"Irrrrr...kioc...uin daylran..." Johnny started.

Victoria turned to Shanks and said, "Oh damn. He's right. You guys, I think we killed our new teacher."

"Really? Wow. It was only five minutes. I think that's a new record." Maura stated.

Victoria shook her head, "Nah. Remember what happened three months ago when that English nanny came to teach and Elie and Kurt scared her so badly that she only lasted three minutes? That was our record."

"Oh yeah. So, do we just leave him here?" Maura asked.

"Might as well. It'll probably be a while before he wakes up." Larry said, "but while he's here. We might as well see if he has anything good on him."

The students backed away from Lynn and began to lean into their unconscious teacher to take whatever he had on him that was useful.

----------

By the time Shanks woke up, everything except his underwear was gone. No students were in the room and he was laying on the floor. "What the? Where is everybody?" he asked out loud as he stood up. He looked at the clock above the blackboard. It was 11:03. The sun from outside came into the classroom, so it was easy to tell that it was the afternoon or close enough to the afternoon.

The door to the classroom opened and there in the doorway stood the vice principal of the school, which Shanks failed to get her name. She let out a large "A-hem!" from behind the pirate/teacher.

Shanks turned around, embarrassed to be seen like he was, clad in nothing but his underwear. "Ummm...I can explain." he started.

The vice-principal that stood in the doorway laughed, "They stole everything but your underwear. It happened before to a few of the other teachers. It's no big deal."

"Where are they? Last thing I remember, Lynn gave birth to a baby on my desk."

"Oh, it's lunch time. They're probably in the cafeteria or something." The vice principal answered with a smile on her face. She walked to the closet in the room and brought out a white lab coat. She tossed it over at Shanks, who caught it in his hand. "Here, put this on." She said before walking back to the doorway. Before leaving the room she said, "By the way, I'm Sarah."

The captain quickly slipped the coat over his body and sat back down at his desk. He again pulled out the attendance sheet and looked over the last name on the list "Kurt Weber." There was only one more student in the room: a strawberry blonde-haired boy with blue-brown eyes wearing a muscle shirt and the same look as Elie. It was lunch time and he wasn't hungry, so he chose to wait until the others came back.

Twenty minutes passed and the bell rang. Shuffling came from the hallway and the classroom door was ripped open. A lot of noise came as most of the students came in and sat down in their own seats, save for Maura, who took a seat on Kyler's lap. The boy with the book was not amongst them. Neither was Lynn, her baby, or Shanks' clothes.

"Okay, you guys. What happened to my clothes?" Shanks asked.

"Daulton needed clothes so we borrowed yours." Maura answered from her new seat.

"Daulton?"

"Lynn's baby. She went home afterwards to relax." Victoria answered.

"Okay, so who has my gun?" Shanks asked.

All eyes turned to Elie, who made no movement and stared at her teacher through her black eyes. She said nothing, but so didn't anybody else. It was clear that she had the gun and had no intention on returning it on her own.

Shanks let out a little sigh and said to the small girl, "Elie, I want my gun back by the end of school."

"You don't have any control over me." Elie spat.

Shanks ignored her and went back to his desk. Hidden inside the top drawer of the desk was a partially thick, medium-sized book titled _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_. "Okay, I'm guessing that this is the book you guys were assigned to read, so do your other teachers read to you or what?" he asked the class.

"Usually our teachers attempt to read to us since nobody here cares enough to read from their own books." Larry answered.

"Okay, so how far were you guys in this book?"

This time, Maura answered, "We got up to the part where all the characters got sticks shoved up their asses and killed each other because they were all being bastards, thus ending the book and series."

"Rar...E fecr." Johnny muttered.

"Uhhhh..." Shanks turned to Victoria, the translator.

"We're up to chapter seven." Victoria answered simply as she began taking out colored pencils. She turned to Johnny and said in his language, "Rao, Johnny. Oui kud yho byban E lyh punnuf?"

Johnny reached into his desk and handed blank pieces of paper to Victoria, "Rana oui ku, Victoria."

"Dryhg oui." Victoria began drawing on her paper.

"Elie, oui kud yho suna uv dryd jutgy?" Johnny called from the other side of the room.

Elie turned to him and said in a sharp voice, "Listen, you foreign bastard, we don't all speak whatever the hell you're speaking."

"He wants your drink, Elie." Victoria answered.

Elie tossed her glass bottle full of alcohol over to Johnny, who barely caught it. "Fydlr frana oui'na yesehk dryd drehk!" he shouted. Even though Elie did not know what he said, she didn't like the way he said it to her and flipped him off.

Kurt walked over and sat in the seat behind Elie, who now turned her attention to him. At first Shanks assumed that they were going to fight, but was surprised to find out that they didn't. Instead, Kurt brought out a dagger and began carving on the desk, occasionally handing the dagger to Elie, who also carved on the desk.

From Kyler's seat, both Kyler and Maura continued the same business they started when Shanks first walked into the classroom and both of them did not seem to want to stop even though their new teacher was attempting to make them pay attention.

Larry was sitting alone, smoking the tiny cigarette he had earlier that morning. Like the other students, he showed no interest in what was happening. In fact, he looked half asleep.

Shanks was about halfway into chapter seven of the book when he heard Elie say, "Finished." And throw the dagger behind her...and the dagger was headed straight for Shanks. If the man had not held the book in front of his face, the dagger most likely would have pierced him right in the middle of the forehead, but did the small girl apologize? No. In fact, Kurt gave her a high-five. It was like the thing was planned or something.

_Okay. I'm done reading this book_. Shanks thought as he placed the book pierced with the dagger on top of his desk. He went back into the desk and pulled out a book entitled _American History_. He opened the book, turned to a random page, and looked at what was on it. After that, he turned to the class and announced, "Okay, enough of that book. We're going to do some history lesson. So, who can tell me what the _Bill of Rights_ is?"

"A piece of shit the government made up to make people believe that everyone has rights." Kurt answered from behind Elie.

"Yeah, if the _Bill of Rights_ was actually to be used for every American, then why the hell are we stuck crammed in this classroom where nobody gives a damn about us?" Victoria asked while continuing her artwork.

"Okay, maybe history isn't such a good idea. Let's try something else..." Shanks said before digging back into his desk for more books.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

In the last twenty minutes, Shanks attempted to teach Math to the students, but like with the reading, nobody gave a damn. Art wasn't a big success either since Victoria was the only one that was drawing. The last thing he tried to each was a Science class. That was at least a partial success. The lesson was about gravity and Shanks made the mistake of making a demonstration. He made an even bigger mistake when he brought out rope to tie around the bottle in Johnny's hands and a paper weight in the desk. His biggest mistake was asking Kurt to tie some of the rope around the items.

Rather than tie the rope around the items, Kurt tied the teacher up with the rope...and he did it so quickly that Shanks couldn't react in time. Within five seconds, Shanks' legs were tied up by one of the ropes while his body and arm were tied up by the other one. Now the teacher was immobilized.

"Let's go home." Kyler announced to the class. Everyone agreed and stood up. Before walking out the door, all the students placed papers on the desk.

"They're our mini-essays we were assigned to write from our last teacher. Have fun grading them." Victoria explained before leaving the class with Johnny and Larry. Maura and Kyler followed them giggling.

"Ah, Elie. Before you leave, isn't there something you have to give me?" Shanks asked the small girl.

Without saying anything, Elie slugged him in the stomach...hard. She slugged the captain so hard that he gasped for air. She walked out of the room without returning his gun.

"Hey! Get back here, you little bitch!" Shanks shouted after Elie.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Kurt shouted before punching his teacher in the gut harder than Elie did. He left the room and slammed the door behind him.

Shanks was now alone in the classroom. He would have been almost screwed had he not remembered that the Harry Potter book still had the dagger in it. Using his mouth, the pirate pulled the dagger out and somehow managed to untie the rope bounding his arm to his body. He then grabbed the dagger with his arm and untied his feet. All his students were little Hellraisers and had he been any normal person, he would have quit right then and there, but he wasn't. He dealt with worse things than them and he would not lose to any of them.

The captain realized he had an hour left of class, so he chose to waste it by grading the seven mini-essays he was given. On top of the list was Victoria's. The paper was filled mostly with little doodles rather than words, but she did have a couple sentences talking about the book. Larry's was the same way but instead of little doodles, he had dollar signs and amounts.

Maura's was third on the pile with so much swearing and slang on it that the teacher honestly could not tell what she was stating on it. Kyler's was worse. Not only did he have what Maura did, but he also had spelling errors that were so bad that Shanks couldn't understand what he was saying. Johnny's paper was next, but after reading the first few sentences, Shanks decided to stop:

_Harry Potter ec ypuid cusa kyo fewynt fru sucd megamo cedc eh dra tyng bmaycinehk rescamv du Nelrynt Cessuhc jetauc. Ra kuac du cusa fewynt clruum, frana ra saadc y pihlr uv udran kyo baubma yht pakehc du ryhk uid fedr dras. Rec dfu vneahtc yna yhudran rusu yht cusa ikmo-ycc pedlr._

"What the hell is he saying?" Shanks asked out loud.

There were two papers left in the pile: Elie and Kurt's. Kurt's was up first, torn and partially burned with what looked like a cigarette burn. Aside from his name, the only words on the paper was "This book sucks." Elie's was the worst one so far. Hers wasn't torn, but the only words on it were her name and the two words "Harry Potter". The rest of the paper was covered in dried red blotches.

The door to the classroom opened and there, in the doorway, stood Vice Principal Sarah with a calm look on her face. "You know, everyone in the class is gone. You are free to leave whenever you wish." She told Shanks.

"Man, what the hell's the matter with those kids?" Shanks asked her.

Sarah's calm look stayed put on her face as she answered, "Lots of things. Are you quitting already?"

Shanks didn't admit it, but he thought about quitting. These kids and the idiot adult were almost worse than anything he had put up with before. Maura and Kyler seemed to only care about making out in class or having fun instead of doing anything helpful. Johnny threatened him in a language he didn't understand. Lynn, though Shanks didn't know her very well, was like Larry and didn't really care about doing anything but sit around. Kurt scared the captain by teaming up with Elie and almost killing him. Elie, though she was a small girl, had already proven that she had the power to kill the captain and actually had gotten Shanks to believe that she really did kill a few people.

The thought was shook off though. He was a pirate captain and had dealt with things worse than the seven students. Perhaps something was wrong with them that needed help. "I won't quit. I can handle them. I've straightened out worse adults than them, so I think I can handle a few kids." He answered.

Sarah shrugged and said, "Okay. Whatever you say. I hope you can do it. It would be nice to see them all straightened out." Sarah then left the room, but not before tossing a set of keys into Shanks' hands, explaining that it would be better that he lock the classroom door to prevent thieves from entering the room.

The captain grabbed all his papers and left the room after locking the door behind him and leaving the school all together. His original plan was to leave the school then head to Elie's house and take his gun before heading back to the ship. He had his paper with the address of all the students in his classroom and halfway down the list was Elie's name and address. Unfortunately, since the man was new to the area, he needed a map, which he did not have. Time for a new plan: leave the school, head back to the ship, ask one of the sailors for a map or directions to Elie's house, then retrieve his gun.

The streets of the town were empty, but Shanks still expected Kyler to drive up behind him like what happened the day before. Kyler did not come nor did anybody else. He was entirely safe until he got back to the ship. Unfortunately, none of the fishermen were outside, so it was up to Shanks to either wait until one came back or check to see if one of the crewmen had one.

"So, how was your first day of your job with the kids, captain?" Yasopp asked, letting out a laugh.

"It was Hell. They're all Hellraisers...and one of them isn't even a kid. The oldest one is twenty-five years old." Shanks answered.

The crewmen laughed as Shanks talked about his first day "teaching". They laughed when he explained about the alcohol bottle flying at him. They cracked up when he explained the incident he had with Lynn and her baby being born on his desk. They were all in hysterics when he said that he had his gun and clothes stolen by the class.

"And to top it all off. I'm stuck grading some damn papers about some book I don't even understand." Shanks explained.

"Let's see the papers. I wanna see how dumb these kids are." Yasopp said with a smirk on his face.

Without hesitation, Shanks placed all seven papers on the table in the lounge. Instantly, each paper was grabbed by a crew member and looked over. The ones that grabbed Maura, Kyler, Larry, Kurt, and Victoria's papers laughed at the little descriptions of the book, insulting the hell out of it.

Yasopp had Johnny's paper and raised an eyebrow as he read it. "The hell's the matter with this kid? I don't understand a damn word he's saying." he asked.

Lucky had Kurt's paper and laughed a little as he read out loud, "This book sucks." He turned to the rest of the crew and said, "Nice description of a book. Give this kid a good score."

Mihawk was the only one not laughing at the paper. In his hands was Elie's paper, but he wasn't looking at the words, but rather at the red blotches. "What's wrong with this 'Elie Morrow'?" he asked Shanks.

"All I know about her is that she drinks, smokes, and steals. Why?" Shanks asked.

"Her paper's covered in dried blood." Mihawk answered.

0000000000

A/N: Okay, that's chapter 2 of this story. I'm sure it didn't make that much sense, but I'm going to work on getting it better and possibly a little bit more humorous and serious. Oh, and Johnny's language is not one that I made up. It is a real language. Can anybody guess what it is?

Oh, and I'm not positive if Mihawk is a crewmember or not. I can't remember. Some people say he is while some say he isn't, so if I'm incorrect, please let me know.

R/R if you want, but please be nice. I'm trying really hard to get this to work.


	3. The Punishment For House Calling

Ch.3- The Punishment for House Calling

"Dried blood? What the hell is some kid's paper doing covered in dried blood?" Ben asked.

That was actually a very good question. Kids normally didn't bleed unless they actually got hurt by falling into something or somebody hit them. Had Elie been getting hit? If so, then by who? Had the other kids been getting hit, too? Shanks had to find out. If he was going to be hanging around these kids for the rest of the time he'd be in this town, then it was his duty to know.

"Any of you guys got a map of this place? I want to have a word with the parents of those kids and have my gun returned from that little bitch, Elie." Shanks asked his crew.

He lucked out. Wataru, since he happened to be a navigator, made a copy of a city map...or at least he said he did. He actually took a free map that was being given by the library that sat down the street from the marina. Thankfully, this town was small so the map was also small, thus making it easier for the captain to read it.

"Men, wish me luck." The captain told his crew before leaving the ship with Wataru's map and the paper with the student's homes on it. The trip itself sounded like a life or death journey. Nothing could be expected when he visited with the families of his new students.

Elie's house was first, not because Shanks needed his gun back, but because she lived in a tiny apartment complex close to the marina.

_Crescent Hill Apartment Complex_, the complex was sorry looking place. The buildings were pained a dull cream color with the paint chipping away. Over-grown bushes surrounding the place were decorated with beer cans and bottles, cigarette butts, and even a used condom.

Apartment number 3 was on the bottom of the complex. A small pile of empty beer bottles sat outside the door. Something inside the captain told him that this was not a safe place for anybody, but he went ahead and knocked on the door anyway.

Elie didn't answer the door like Shanks had expected. Instead a man about his height with a beer belly and a five-o'clock shadow answered the door. The man's dull yet harsh green eyes stared at Shanks as he asked in a sharp voice, "Yeah?"

"Are you Nick Morrow?" Shanks asked the man.

"Yeah, who are you?" the man asked.

"My name is Shanks. I'm your daughter's new teacher and I want to talk to you about her." The captain admitted.

The other man, Nick, let out a sigh and asked, "What has Jill done this time?"

Now Shanks was confused. "Jill? I thought your daughter's name was Elin."

Nick paused for a moment, as if something caught him by surprise. Carefully, the man reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper. A birth certificate. On the name, in delicate black ink was the name "Elin Carra Morrow." The red haired man was right. Nick ran a hand through his short brown hair and said unemotionally, "Right...Elin. So, you wanna come in or something?"

Shanks took up the offer and walked inside the apartment's living room. The inside wasn't any better than the outside. Beer cans, cigarette butts, and a very worn couch was seated in the living room. "So, what did Elin do this time? Teachers don't come here unless she did something. So, what did she do?" Nick asked him.

"Well, she stole a gun from me during class today and she almost got me with a dagger." Shanks explained.

Nick let out a sigh before asking, "Anything else?"

_Well, he seems like an understanding guy. I wonder where Elie gets her violence from._ Shanks thought before deciding to bring up Elie's paper. "Yeah. I read Elie's paper today and it's covered in dried blood."

Now Nick was not looking emotionless like he had before. In fact, the look on his face was a mix of surprise and anger, as if a deep secret that nobody else knew was revealed. His body stiffened up. "She must have gotten into another fight. I'll go get your gun. Wait here please." Without saying anything else or waiting for Shanks to answer him, Nick left the room and headed down the hallway. The door to the room at the end of the hallway opened then closed. Muffled yelling that Shanks could not make out came from the room followed by a dull thump. The door reopened and Nick stepped out holding Shanks' gun in his hand. "Is this your gun?" he asked the captain.

Shanks nodded and took the gun from the other man. "Everything okay?" he asked suspiciously.

Nick nodded and answered calmly, "Yeah. I'll have a talk with her about the fighting and the stealing. She may not listen to the teachers, but she'll damn well listen to me."

Shanks nodded and turned to leave the house. He knew that there was something that Nick was not telling him, but the important thing was that he got his gun back. Besides, if something was going on, he'd find out eventually and whatever happened to Elie, she likely deserved it. No noise was heard from the apartment as he left.

Elie's house was finished. Now it was time to go to the closest house to Elie's. That one was Larry's apartment. Thankfully this one was not all that far away from Elie's house.

_Applewood Apartment Complex_ was about two blocks away from Elie's apartment and was considerably cleaner than _Crescent Hill_. The bushes here were only slightly over-grown and were not decorated like _Crescent Hill's _were. Apartment number 2 was on the top of another apartment. The top was the one that Larry was supposed to have lived in. The inside was dark and the door was locked. Nobody was home. It was no use coming here. Next stop: Johnny's house.

Johnny lived in a rather large house in the middle of town, about a mile and a half away from Larry's apartment. The house was two stories and painted a sea green color. The grassy yard was cleanly cut and even had some statues sitting within the flower beds. So far, this looked like the best home of the three he had visited today. Perhaps this one would not be so bad.

Shanks walked up to the white door of the sea-green house and knocked on the door with his one hand. The door opened and a small, elderly woman answered the door. A confused look appeared on her wrinkled up face as she asked, "Sì? Posso aiutarlo?"

Okay, a new language was being spoken. One like what Johnny spoke during class. "Ummm...do you speak English?" the captain asked the old lady.

The woman stared at him for a while as if she could not understand what he was saying. "Non posso capirlo. Che cosa desiderate?" she asked the taller man.

Okay, so the answer to his question was no. She did not speak his language. "Are the parents of Johnny Lexis home?" he asked impatiently.

The old woman raised her voice, thinking that he would be able to understand what she was saying to her. "Che cosa voi desiderano da me!"

Shanks did not get the chance to answer back in English like he had planned. A deeper voice shouted at the old woman, "Non viviamo in Italia, donna anziana. Parli Inglese." From behind the woman stood Johnny with a bored yet annoyed look on his face. His face turned to Shanks as he spoke for the first time in English, "What do you want?"

A breath of relief left the teacher's mouth. So the boy really could speak English. He didn't only speak whatever language he was speaking before to the old woman and in class. There was still some hope for him being able to communicate with the boy since the boy did speak English. "Are your parents home?"

"They're out. What did Johnny do this time?" A snobby-ish voice asked from behind Johnny. The owner of the voice calmly walked around Johnny and stood in front of Shanks. A rather tall girl just entering her teens with long black hair and soft brown eyes. "Let me guess. You're his new teacher and he spoke to your class in a language you never heard of and to top it all off, you got a paper from him written in that language that you don't know, right."

She was right. Whoever that girl was, whether it was Johnny's sister or somebody else, she was correct. It must have happened before, but it was not really any of Shanks' business to ask if it had happened before or if it had, then what could be done to stop it. Well, in a way, it actually was but he didn't exactly want to get involved. He wanted to find a way to stop whatever the boy was doing his own way.

Even though she hadn't seen the taller man nod or do anything, the girl knew she was right. She let out a sigh and said, "I'll tell Mom and Dad when they get back."

The red-haired captain nodded and left the house. After the door closed behind him and the man was standing on the sidewalk, he had a feeling that he knew where Johnny got the idea of speaking another language in class. He seemed to be speaking it a lot to the old woman that answered the door, so that probably explained where he got the idea for the language in class. Before going in any direction, Shanks took a look at the map and the paper and picked out his destination. Next stop: Kyler's house.

The house that belonged to Kyler's family was two miles away from Johnny's house. Normally, the captain would probably be walking around for a few hours, but he quickly got the hang of the "bus schedule" as the islanders called it. Basically, to his knowledge, he got onto this big cart with the words _Island Transit_ written on it in aqua green paint, and rode around for free until he got to his desired destination. At least that's what this old man sitting at the bus stop told him and since the ride seemed extremely convenient, the chance was taken...especially since it was free.

Kyler's house was about the height of Johnny's house with a green lawn. The only things that were different was that the two story house was painted a tan color and rather than statues being in the yard, there were soccer balls and a baseball bat leaning close to the door. Sitting in the driveway of the house were two carts: the cherry red one that Shanks had seen Kyler driving around with Maura and a silver one about twice the size of Kyler's cart.

Like he had done with the other houses, Shanks walked up to the white door of the house and knocked. The door opened and instead of either Kyler or another adult answering the door, a small boy with the same blonde hair and brown eyes as Kyler opened the door. "Yes?" the boy asked.

The boy didn't look a whole lot younger than Kyler, probably not more than a few years younger, and he looked so much like Kyler so it was safe for the teacher to assume that the boy was Kyler's brother. "I'm your brother's new teacher. Is he or your parents home? I need to talk to your parents." Shanks asked.

The boy stepped out of the way, allowing Shanks to enter the home like Elie's father had done when he visited the apartment. Thankfully the inside wasn't really very messy. "Kyler's up in his room with the girl from next door, but don't tell Mom or Dad that. They don't like her very much. If you wait on the couch, I'll go get Mom." The boy said before heading to another room.

The offer for sitting upon the couch was taken. Shanks sat upon a very comfortable brown couch in the same room as he waited for Kyler's mother to come by so he could talk to her about what to do about Kyler. The second he sat down, a dog with gold fur walked over to him. Shanks could just vaguely remember the breed of the dog, a golden retriever, but that was only because he had the exact breed of dog when he was a kid. A loud sound, like that of a guitar with somebody running their fingers running down all six of the strings, came from upstairs and caused Shanks to jump in surprise.

A woman in brown hair and matching eyes found her way into the room. "So, you're Kyler's new teacher? Is there something I can help you with?" the woman asked.

Shanks stood up from his spot on the couch. "Yes, I'm having a little problem with the way Kyler's acting in class. He seems to love to spend some...close time to another of my student, Maura Anders." Shanks explained.

The woman clenched her teeth and fists, making her look like somewhat of a beautiful monster in a simple blue dress. Something was really ticking her off. Shanks could tell. However, rather than ask her what was going on with what he said, he backed away from the woman...mostly because he was unsure of what the woman would do. He didn't know if she would blow her top and grow crazy or just shake off the thought and he didn't want to know either.

Mrs. Hooker said simply, "I'll have a talk with him about that. I'll try and make sure that it doesn't happen again."

It sounded like what Nick said about Elie, so Shanks believed it. He nodded and headed out the door, closing it behind him. He was only up to the sidewalk when he heard the shrill voice of Kyler's mother scream from the house, "YOU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!"

A red haired figure quickly jumped out of one of the second story windows and climbed down the trellis that leaned against the houses. It was Maura. Her hair and clothes were a little messy and wrinkled, which immediately got Shanks to wonder what exactly she was doing there. He quickly shook off the thought as he watched her climb over the wooden fence that separated Kyler's house from the house next door.

A laugh came from the driveway next door. Shanks walked over to the house next door and was surprised to see Larry standing next to a black cart.

"Larry? What are you doing here?" Shanks asked his eldest student.

"Helping my best friend fix his car." Larry answered. He turned his head towards the cart and said in a loud voice, "Hey, Adam. The teacher's here and I think he's got something to say about Maura."

A man about Larry's age emerged from under the car. Some grease was on his face and in his dark brown hair. He didn't look angry, but he did look displeased about what Larry had told him. The man, Adam, stood up and asked, "What has my sister done this time? Was she talking back in class again?"

Shanks nodded and added, "That and she's been getting very close to Kyler Hooker."

Adam let out a heavy sigh like the one Nick gave him earlier. He turned his head towards the blue two-story house that was his and shouted, "MAURA! GET OUT HERE!"

Maura did not come out of the house, but somebody else did. A thin young woman dressed in blue jeans and a red shirt that went well with her light brown curls came out of the house. Obviously this was not Maura. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when Mrs. Hooker came stomping up to the group outside.

Mrs. Hooker pointed a finger at Adam and the other woman and shouted, "You two! Keep your tramp of a sister away from my son! I'm tired of seeing her destroying my son's future!"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hooker. We'll talk to her about that." Adam answered. Kyler's mother grunted then headed back to her own home.

The young woman that came out of Maura's house turned her head towards the house and yelled in a screechy voice, "MAURA!"

The door opened and out walked Maura, swaying her hips a little as she walked with a cigarette in between the pointer and middle fingers of her left hand. A cool look was on her face. She looked like she didn't believe that she was in trouble or if she did realize it, then she didn't care. She stopped in front of Shanks and the woman and asked in a snotty voice, "What the hell do _you_ want?"

"Maura Beth!" Adam yelled at his sister.

Shanks, feeling that Maura had been talking to him despite the fact that he had no proof that she was since she had not looked at either him or the other woman, decided to speak up against the girl. "Hey, that's not a nice thing to say to your teacher."

Maura turned her head sharply towards Shanks and said in the same snotty voice, "I wasn't talking to you, bastard. I was talking to the Witch of Starlight Island."

"Why you little..." the other woman started.

Adam slapped his forehead with his greasy right hand and groaned, "Oh no. Not this again." He looked at Maura and said in a tired voice, "Maura, apologize to your teacher and your sister."

Maura put a smirk on her face and said to Shanks, "Fine. I'm sorry for calling you a bastard and being a smart-ass in class." She then turned to the other woman and replaced her smirk with an angry look, "Alice, you may have married my brother, but you are not my sister and I'm sorry that you are the island's witch and that I swore at you."

It was clear that there was a bad connection between Maura and her brother's wife, Alice. The connection became even clearer when Alice ordered the girl to put out the cigarette and was rewarded with a smart-mouthed comment. The connection between Adam and Maura was better than the last one. An order from him to put out her cigarette and to head off to her room was immediately followed. An apology from Adam was given to Shanks and the teacher headed on his way to the next of his student's houses.

Kurt only lived a block away from Maura. A small one-story house with chipped white paint and cracked windows was what Kurt lived in. The small yard was covered in dead grass and a wilting cherry tree. When he knocked on the door, a woman that looked very similar to Elie's father answered the door with the same emotionless look that Nick gave him. "What do you want?" the woman asked.

"Miss uhhh...Morrow. I want to talk to you about your son, Kurt." Shanks said as he looked up from his paper. Her last name was Morrow. Nick's last name was Morrow. So Elie and Kurt were related somehow. Cousins most likely. He got an answer that was different than the other student's families had given him.

"Look, I'll tell you what I tell all the goddamn teachers that come here wasting my fucking time bothering me with the problems my son is having. Whatever he does at school is your own damn problem. If he hits you or tries to kill you or something, it's your own damn problem. I can't watch the little bastard every second. Now go away." The woman shouted before slamming the door shut. It was clear that Kurt's mother did not want to talk to Shanks about anything involving her son.

Well, there was nothing that the captain could do except for head for the last two houses on his list: Lynn's and Victoria's. Lynn's house was closer to Kurt's and was probably about the biggest house he had seen on this little island. In fact, it looked like a mansion of some sort. A large gate was surrounding the three-story mansion and it's healthy green, clean-cut lawn. With his one hand, Shanks opened the gate and walked down the white stone walkway to the front door of the mansion and knocked on the wooden door.

An aging man in a white suit answered the door and led the captain into the mansion after Shanks explained his purpose of coming. After walking down the long, elaborate hallways of the mansion, he was led to a very large parlor. Exquisite, multi-colored rugs covered the floor. The one couch and three chairs in the room were colored green and were extremely comfortable. A piano was also in the room, in front of shelves full of books, but the lid was closed.

"You're here to see us about Lynn?" A blonde woman asked from the doorway of the parlor. A dark-haired man stood behind her with a snooty look on his face as he stared at the captain.

"Yeah. I wanted to know if she was okay after giving birth to her baby and I also wanted to talk about the way she's acting in class." Shanks answered.

The woman let out a laugh that sounded melodic, yet creepy. Sure the laugh was nice to hear since his visits to the other houses were full of emotionless sighs and yelling, but something about it just didn't sound right. Perhaps it was the timing of the laugh or that she even laughed at all. Shanks didn't know. "Lynn and the baby are fine. Oh, and don't worry about her behavior. My husband and I are going to get her out of that class." The woman answered.

Shanks was a little confused. He looked at Lynn's papers and she wasn't doing at all good in her classes. Her work was horrible and looked like she wasn't anywhere near leaving the class, so how would she be getting out. He must have said that last part out loud because his question was answered by the man, "That's nothing money won't fix."

"You think you can pay Manson to get her out of the class?" Shanks asked.

Mrs. Perry nodded and ran her fingers down her delicate white dress, "We own half of the places here on Starlight Island. I'm sure Manson will be very ecstatic to get our offer. Trust me. Just put up with her for another week and she'll be out of your hair."

Something about these people told Shanks that this might be the start of Lynn's problems. Her parents were rich and got her out of everything, so that probably lead to why she was in his class in the first place. He was happy that he didn't say that last part out loud. If he had, her parents would have gotten extra-pissed with him and God only knew what would happen next. The only thing he could do was leave the mansion. Besides, it was time to go to the eighth and final house: Victoria's.

He had to take the bus over to Victoria's house. The girl lived all the way out in the country, four miles away from Lynn. She didn't live in a big house like Lynn, but the yard was really big. A red barn stood at the edge of the yard, in front of a large field that had horses running across it. The two-story brown house was complete with a large brown deck and four different carts in the rocky driveway. Two boys and a girl played a game of tag in the yard. They stopped as soon as Shanks walked up to them. "Is Victoria here?" he asked, kneeling down to the kids' height.

The youngest, a little boy with messy brown hair pointed at a person on the deck. "Toria's drawin'." The little boy said in a chipper voice.

After saying a "thank-you", Shanks headed for the deck and walked behind Victoria. Sitting on her lap was a notebook she was using to draw the field with colored pencils. The picture on the notebook was only half-done, but already looked so magical, so realistic that the picture almost seemed to come to life. "Hey, that's really good." he told Victoria.

Without turning her head, Victoria answered in a soft voice, "Thanks."

"So, are your parents home?" her teacher asked.

Victoria put down her notebook before standing up. "I'll go get them." Victoria told him. She placed her notebook on the chair she sat in and headed into the house.

The notebook just sat there open to the page with the half-finished field drawing, taunting the captain, begging him to take a look at the inside...at the other drawings. Perhaps some secrets were in there. Secrets about Victoria or the other students that he could use to his advantage to win them over for the time being. Victoria was not back yet, so Shanks chose to take this chance and take a look at the inside.

He flipped back a few pages and saw a drawing of a blonde boy with a soccer ball under his left arm. His right arm was draped over the shoulder's of a shorter, red-haired girl. It was Kyler and Maura. Both had happy smiles on their faces, not smirks or fake smiles, real ones. In place of Maura's cigarette was a microphone.

Another page was flipped back. This one was the picture of a man sitting on a bench. A large, loving smile was on his face. Sitting on his lap were two children: a little girl and a little boy. The two children were also smiling and laughing. The man was Larry, but who were the two children?

Yet another page was flipped back. A girl kneeled before another boy. She was bandaging his leg. It was Elie. Her face and arms weren't bruised, her shoulder-length brown hair was held back with hair clips, and a calm smile was on her face. What did this picture mean?

The pictures began to confuse Shanks. They all seemed to be something that he'd never really seen in his students. The drawings of Kyler and Maura looked like something they did on their free time. Larry's drawing looked like he had something he loved. Elie's looked like something she wanted in the future. Maybe these drawings would help him get through to the students. Sports, entertainment, and health seemed to be what some of them were into. If he taught his students these, would he be able to get through to them? There was only one way to find out, but it would have to wait.

The notebook was ripped out of his hands by an angry Victoria. Without saying another word, she stomped back into the house passed her parents.

"Is there something you wanted to ask us about Victoria?" her mother asked.

"Well, the thing she's been doing is translating for one of our other students, Johnny Lexis. I was wondering if there was something I could do to get her to listen to me." Shanks explained. So far, he knew that Victoria liked art. Well, she didn't tell him that, but he could tell by her drawings and the fact that she was always drawing in class.

"She doesn't listen? Doesn't surprise me. She's the only one here in the family here that doesn't have any special qualities so it's just typical that she tries to stand out by not listening to you." Victoria's mother stated.

"No special qualities? She's one hell of a good artist. Haven't you seen her work?" Shanks asked the girl's parents in confusion.

"Look, everyone in our family can draw as can everyone else here on this island. Her drawings are just nothing special. If she could write like a journalist or novelist or if she could sew or cook or is athletic, then she would be something special. She would even be something special if she could sing or dance like her friend, Maura, but she can't so she's not really anything special." Victoria's mother explained.

"Besides, you're the teacher. I'm sure that you'll find something to make her listen to you sooner or later. Otherwise, I'm afraid we can't help you with Victoria's problem." Victoria's father added on.

That was a horrible thing for somebody to say about their child. Victoria could draw very well, probably better than some of the artists back in the many blues he'd visited, but it seemed that her parents didn't see it. Well, it didn't really matter. They didn't want to talk about it and he didn't really want to argue with them. At least they were probably the nicest parents he'd come across even if they didn't acknowledge their daughter's talents.

The bus took Shanks back to the marina. He almost missed the bus, too. If he had gone to the bus stop a minute later, he would have missed his ride and would be forced to walk the ten miles back to his ship while the sun was starting to set. On the bumpy ride, he thought long and hard about the little mini-trips he had and the people he visited.

Johnny's language seemed to be due to the fact that he lived with people that didn't even speak the language everyone else spoke. Elie's father looked like he was hiding something from everyone else, something that was being inherited to his daughter. The same was for Kurt's mother. Lynn and Victoria's parents seemed normal enough, but they were also ignoring the fact that their daughters most likely both had something special inside, that probably lead to them being in the class. Maura seemed to have a deep hatred for her sister and Kyler's mother was more worried about keeping the girl next door away from Kyler than she was about what he really wanted. The only thing that Shanks knew about Larry was that he was the best friend of Maura's brother.

It was completely dark outside save for the light poles along the streets by the time Shanks got back to his ship. He explained his trip to his crew when he got back and, like they did when Shanks explained his day, the whole crew began to laugh hysterically. His little "house-calling" trip was almost as hilarious as his first day on the job. Well, he had to admit that it was a little funny, but in a way, it wasn't really as funny as it sounded. All the kids had problems and he felt sorry for them...or most of them at least.

He felt sorry for Kurt and Elie because he had a feeling that their parents were doing something to them that nobody else saw. He felt sorry for Johnny because he was stuck trying to remember two different languages that were spoken in his house. He felt sorry for Kyler because his parents seemed to care more about Maura staying away from his house than they did about him. He felt sorry for Maura because she did not have a good relationship with a woman that married her brother and was trying to gain the attention of somebody that didn't pay much attention to her in the beginning. He felt sorry for Lynn because her parents spoiled her rotten, giving her no responsibilities or punishments at all. He felt sorry for Victoria because her family refused to believe that she had artistic skills or was anything special.

The only person he didn't feel sorry for was Larry. The reason for this was that the man didn't really have any family he could talk to. Well, he did feel a little sorry for the oldest student. He was twenty-five and in a classroom, supposedly learning with a group of a bunch of misfit teenagers.

Shanks took all the papers his students originally wrote and looked over all of them. He borrowed a pen from Wataru and began to write upon the papers his students turned in. Basically, he put down Ds and Fs on the papers along with little comments on what he wanted fixed although it was likely that the students wouldn't follow them.

Like he had done the night before, Shanks sat at the table with the rest of his crew, eating what Saiyoru served to eat and thought about how the next day was going to be. He already had a bad feeling about them since he just met them all, but he didn't know if they were going to be any worse the next day. As he ate, he thought about Victoria's drawings. Something about them told the captain that they had something to do with what the students liked or wanted.

Kyler looked like he liked to play sports, so maybe he could help with that by getting the class involved in games. Maura sang and danced, he knew that not because of the drawing but because of what Victoria's parents told him so he could probably use that to his advantage. Larry, Lynn, and Johnny he wasn't positive about. Victoria drew; that was a no-brainer. From what he understood from the picture about Elie was that she either liked to heal or she wanted something to do with healing, so he could probably teach the class about health. Kurt, having partnering with Elie, would probably get involved even if the man didn't know what the boy liked.

The Red Hair Pirates had a doctor on board named Kaito. He was more of the quiet reserved members of the crew, but he most likely wouldn't mind if Shanks borrowed some bandages and other medical equipment from him to use to teach health for Elie. Besides, this island seemed to be a quiet one with nobody in their crew getting seriously injured anytime soon. Unfortunately, the rest of the students were on their own. There weren't any soccer balls for Kyler to play with and the only songs Shanks knew were old sea songs about getting drunk and sailing the open seas and it was likely that Maura wouldn't want to go around singing those types of songs.

Like he predicted, Kaito did not mind lending Shanks some bandages, medicines, and splints to use at the next day's health class. The captain stuffed the items in a bag the crew had along with the papers that were given to him. As he fell asleep in his bunk later on that night, he dreamt about what would happen the next day in class. He dreamt that Elie was smiling as she demonstrated how to bandage a wound and Kurt smiling as he helped her. He dreamt that he was outside with the class, watching them play a little game of soccer in the school field with all the students smiling. He dreamt that rather than the cigarette in Maura's hands, she was holding a pen or microphone, singing a song he'd never heard before and dancing with a smile on her face. He dreamt that Larry wasn't drinking, Lynn wasn't whining, Johnny was speaking English, and Victoria was sharing her drawings with the rest of the class and helping those that weren't quite as good at drawing. Would the next day be like he dreamt? He would have to find out tomorrow for himself.

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Shanks awoke the next morning, strangely energized and ready for his next day of being the teacher for the class of hellraisers. A cup of coffee and plate of ham and eggs got him even more ready. He was actually smiling as he left the ship with the bag over his shoulder and walked down to the school.

_Morning Glory High_ had students of all grades sitting amongst each other, laughing and giggling whenever somebody said something funny. Not one of those students were Shanks'. He walked into the principal's office at the school to confirm that he came in to work that day much to the staff's surprise. It was rare for a teacher for his class to come in for a second day.

Manson walked up to Shanks and said with a smile, "You came back? That's great! Maybe you're the teacher those kids need! Hey, when you're done with class, come by here. You forgot to pick up yesterday's pay."

Shanks nodded, "Gotcha. Oh, I have a question to ask. Do you have any soccer balls that my class can use? I want to get my class to play a game of soccer since we have a student that likes soccer."

"Kyler Hooker? Yeah, he used to be on the school's soccer team. We had to kick him off, though because of his grades. It's a shame. The boy is probably one of the best soccer players in the school." Manson answered, "The soccer balls are in the PE room. Whenever you're ready to play, just take a ball and go to an empty part of the field."

Shanks nodded and headed towards the classroom that held the students he was to be teaching. As he put his hand on the door, he readied himself for what would happen if he entered too quickly. He still remembered what happened the day before when the alcohol bottle, thrown possibly by Elie, was hurled at him. He did not want the same thing to happen.

Slowly, he opened up the door and unlike yesterday, an alcohol bottle was not thrown at his head. The only thing that was staring at him were six angry sets of eyes. One of his students was not there and Lynn didn't look as if she cared if the rest of the class was pissed. "Uhhh...morning. So, guys...where's Larry?" Shanks asked nervously.

"He had to work today and couldn't make it, Bastard." Maura answered angrily. Bastard, so that was her nickname for him.

The six sets of eyes glared at Shanks, sending shivers down the man's spine. Even the deadliest enemy he faced didn't glare at him like these kids did and it was seriously making him feel uncomfortable. "Okay, what's the matter with you guys?" he asked his class.

This time, rather than Maura answering with a smart-ass comment like she would have done, Kurt answered hatefully, "Thanks to you and your goddamn house calling, we got punished."

"And now, since we were punished, it's time for you go get your own punishment." Elie finished for Kurt.

Without saying anything else Johnny, Victoria, Elie, Kurt, Maura, and Kyler opened up their desks and each pulled out an item. Johnny held a concrete block. Victoria held a smaller, red brick. Elie held a glass bottle full of liquid. Kurt held a dagger similar to the one thrown in the _Harry Potter_ book the day before. Maura had a metal pipe. Kyler held a soccer ball in his hands.

"Guys...what are you doing with those?" Shanks asked the students as they began to advance on him. Nobody answered him and before he knew it, the bag was taken off his shoulder and held in Elie's hands.

Elie dug through the bag and pulled out the medical items. She pulled out some of the medicines Kaito gave him. She smirked as she read the labels, "Iodine and ammonia...excellent. This will be excellent for the pain."

At first Shanks assumed that that was a good thing, but hearing it come so cruelly from Elie, his assumption was taken away. She knew how bad the stuff would hurt even if he didn't.

As the six students that held weapons of pain got closer to him, he took a good look at the students. So far Victoria, Maura, Kyler, and Johnny looked like they got a simple punishment like something taken away from them or them being grounded. Kurt and Elie didn't look so lucky. Elie, though her face was already bruised like hell, had an even bigger bruise on her left cheek and some cuts on her throat. Kurt had some burns on his neck and arms. Burns that looked like they came from a cigarette. For a split second, the man thought that Maura was the one that burned him with the cigarette because of her smoking habits, but she didn't seem to have any beef with Kurt. If she would hurt somebody with her cigarette, it would be Alice. Besides, Kurt was taller and stronger than Maura. There'd be no way that she would be able to burn him unless he didn't fight back. If Maura didn't burn him with the cigarette, then who did? And who gave Elie the bruise and cuts on her throat?

He wanted to ask them, but right now, he was more worried about trying to get away from the six that tried to hurt him. He turned to Lynn, who was seated in her seat comfortably with a communicator up to her face. "Uhhh...Lynn...little help here..." he started.

Lynn didn't even look at him. All she did was speak into her communicator, "She actually wore that ugly pink skirt last night...ugh, how stupid is she? I can't believe we allowed that fashion disaster into our club. Yeah, I know...NO! She didn't!...oh my God. I can't believe it...that hoe..." She wasn't going to be helping him. She made it clear when she didn't even look at him.

He had six students that were going after him with weapons. There were six of them with both arms and only one of him with only one arm. "Guys...come on..." he tried reasoning with the students.

"Oui femm byo vun fryd oui ryja tuha du ic." Johnny told Shanks as he raised his block.

"What...did he say?" Shanks asked.

"He said 'you will pay for what you have done to us.'" Victoria translated. She raised her brick.

"Definitely. We got our punishment, so you will get yours." Maura said. She raised her pole at the same time Kyler prepared himself to throw the soccer ball.

"Guys...come on...please." Shanks pleaded. He was ashamed for what he was doing, apologizing to a couple of kids. Pirates didn't do that and because of what he started, his pride was starting to get mashed into the ground.

"Get him!" Kyler shouted. Elie uncapped the bottle of iodine and stood next to Kurt.

Kyler hurled his soccer ball at Shanks. The ball was thrown so strong, so quickly, that the teacher fell to the ground on his behind. In unison Johnny, Victoria, and Maura hit Shanks with their items, dazing him a little bit before holding him down. It was now Kurt's turn for the punishment.

Kurt and Elie walked up to Shanks, who was weakly struggling to escape the clutches of the ones that held him down. Kurt's dagger was raised, and a few little cuts were made into the captain's skin. The little cuts didn't hurt that much. They were small, nothing big like some of the wounds he got from some of the enemies he fought on the seas, but they were big enough to bleed. "Elie, he's bleeding..." Kurt told Elie.

With a smirk on her face, Elie leaned in towards the captain and said, "Well, we can't have that. If we have some open cuts, we have to clean them to avoid infection and what better medicine than iodine." She leaned over Shanks and poured the iodine over the bleeding wounds.

Pain overtook Shanks' body. Sure he had had iodine used in wounds before, but Kaito only used a little bit. Elie was pouring almost the whole bottle over his wounds and it was aching like hell. It hurt so badly and when Elie was finished with the iodine, she began to uncap another bottle of medicine. A few more hits from Maura, Victoria, Kyler, and Johnny came before Kurt gave a few more little cuts and Elie poured the next liquid over the wounds. It was like fire on his body. It hurt so badly and he couldn't move. He did the only thing he could do that could get him some help. He screamed, praying to whatever god this place had, that somebody would help him.

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Ah, they're so mean aren't they? Well, that's chapter 3 for you guys. If you guys have any suggestions, then I'll be happy to listen to them. Oh, and the language Johnny was speaking at home was Italian. Here are the translations:

**Sì? Posso aiutarlo? -** Yes? Can I help you?

**Non posso capirlo. Che cosa desiderate?** - I can't understand you. What do you want?

**Che cosa voi desiderano da me!** - What do you want from me!

**Non viviamo in Italia, donna anziana. Parli Inglese.** - We don't live in Italy, old woman. Speak English.

The language Johnny speaks in school is not Italian, though. Can any of you guys guess what it is?

Oh, and I know that I might have had Shanks seem like a wuss, but he's being attacked by six kids and held down to the ground. He also only has one arm, so it would be pretty hard for him to release himself from the grasp of six weapon-wielding kids.


	4. After the Punishment

Ch. 4-After the Punishment

The pain that was being inflicted upon Shanks seemed like it was never going to stop. All the six students that were torturing him relentlessly and each and every time he tried to fight back, he got more alcohol in his wounds. It seemed that these kids were not going to stop until he was either dead or unconscious until finally a savior came.

"Okay, guys. Knock it off. I think you got him good enough." A voice from the doorway announced to the class, "Besides, you guys want to get into more trouble for what you were doing."

Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria stood up and walked to their own desks. Kurt looked over at Elie, who nodded at him then walked back to her own desk with him following her. The six torturers were silent.

Shanks' savior was none other than Larry. Why he was suddenly at school rather than at work like Maura claimed he was, was a mystery to the captain. Of course, he wasn't upset that he wasn't where he was told. He was grateful. If he withstood the torture any longer, he would have immediately quit or fallen unconscious. The eighth student took his seat and stared boredly at Shanks, who was now starting to stand up on his own feet.

"What the hell is the matter with you kids!" Shanks shouted at the six torturers. He was pissed and his patience was starting to run low.

Maura lit a cigarette and said after taking a puff, "Thanks to your damn house calling, my brother and the witch grounded me for three weeks because of all the 'trouble I was causing in school'."

Kyler's grip on his soccer ball tightened as he continued, "You told my mom that I was getting close with Maura so thanks to you, my car got taken away and I got grounded for a week."

Victoria glared at Shanks and said hatefully, "After you came over, my parents assumed that I caused trouble in school so they took away all my art supplies."

"So cecdan dumt so bynahdc dryd E fyc lyicehk dnuipma palyica uv so myhkiyka, cu drao knuihtat sa vun dfu faagc yht duug yfyo so vyjuneda kysa. Dryhgc y mud, yccruma." Johnny answered in his language.

Shanks looked to Victoria, who simply sighed and translated, "My sister told my parents that I was causing trouble because of my language, so they grounded me for two weeks and took away my favorite games. Thanks a lot, asshole." She turned to Johnny and said, "You might as well knock off the language unless you want it to get worse."

"Fine." Johnny muttered. He was finally speaking English again.

Shanks turned to Kurt and Elie, who had not said anything, "And you two?"

At the same time, Kurt and Elie shouted, "That's none of your business!" They were not ready to admit what happened to them. Shanks could tell even though he didn't say anything.

Now he knew the reasons why most of the torturers were pissed off at him. Maura got grounded for her actions yesterday and personally, Shanks thought she deserved it the way she talked to him and her sister. Kyler and Johnny both became grounded and had something they loved taken away. Victoria just simply had something she loved taken away from her and Shanks, unlike what he assumed with Maura, thought she didn't deserve to have her art taken away. She didn't do anything wrong and he even said to her parents that she didn't. Kurt and Elie were still a mystery, but he was starting to piece together the secrets that they were hiding from him and everyone else around them.

"So, what language has Johnny been speaking in class?" Shanks asked the translator of the classroom.

"He speaks Al Bhed. Not many people speak it and he mastered the language." Victoria answered. The other students except for Lynn didn't say anything.

Lynn wasn't even paying attention to what was going on around her. Her conversation over her little communicator continued, "Did you see that thing on Chelsea's lip when she came to school today? She tried telling me that she got her lip pierced and wasn't wearing the ring, but you know what I think?...exactly. It's a..."

"Lynn, get off that thing!" Shanks ordered Lynn.

"Yeah, the last thing we need to hear is gossip from a rich bitch like you." Maura added.

Lynn removed the communicator from her head and shouted at Maura, "Shut the hell up, Maura! At least I got friends outside this class to gossip with." She turned back to her communicator and said, "Hey Jess, I gotta go. Today, I think I have actually do some damn learning...yeah, I'll talk to you later." She hung up her communicator and said sweetly, "Continue."

Shanks took his bag back from Elie and announced to the class, "Look, I know that you eight don't seem to like me very much, but I'm stuck here with you little bastards until I leave this island, so we're going to have to make the best of our time together. After meeting up with your families and friends, I think I might have found something about you guys that I could use to help you open up and actually learn something in the short time I'm here."

"Oh god...he's trying to get to know us." Maura moaned from her seat.

Shanks pulled out the graded papers and walked over to Maura's desk. He placed her paper with a "D" on it and said, "You are a girl that likes to sing and dance even if not many people see it. You also have a hatred for your sister, but listen to your brother. Well, when you're in class, I'm your brother so you will be listening to me. Now put out that cigarette." Maura stared at him before tossing her cigarette on the floor and grinding it into the hard floor with her foot.

Shanks walked over to Kyler and placed his paper with an "F" on it and said, "You are stuck trying to hide your relationship from your parents and it's starting to have an impact with your schoolwork and your ability to be on the school's soccer team. While I'm here, I will be your father's replacement. It's fine if you want to spend time with Maura, but do it when you're not in class so you can stop worrying about hiding your relationship while trying to get good enough grades to get back on the soccer team and out of my classroom." Kyler, like Maura had done, stared at Shanks before shrugging and stuffing his paper in his desk.

Shanks stopped at Elie's desk and placed her paper with an "F" on it before saying, "You don't like letting people see who you really are and what you really want. You want to help people, but you are also trying to fight off something or someone that is hurting you both inside and outside. In this room, think of me as a family member you can run to if you need help and don't be afraid to be yourself." Elie grunted, but didn't look Shanks in the eyes.

Shanks walked over to Kurt's desk and placed his paper with a "D" on it. "You are like Elie. You don't let people see who you really are inside or when you do, you express yourself in the wrong way. When partnered with Elie, you cause more damage to others. You and Elie are cousins, so in this class, think of me as a family member you can come to...just be a man and don't cry. Real men don't cry. Nice paper by the way. Next time, just say why the book sucks and you'll get an A." Kurt followed Elie's example and grunted.

Shanks walked to Larry, who was seated behind Kyler, in the middle row. He handed the man his "D" graded paper. "You shouldn't really even be in this school. You're twenty-five and in the same class as your best friend's little sister. You may be one of the lazy-types, but for God's sake, be a man and stop hanging around these kids. When I'm here, think of me as your best friend." Larry muttered a "whatever".

Only two papers were left to hand out: Johnny and Victoria's. Johnny's desk was the next stop. Shanks placed the "F" graded paper written in Al Bhed and said, "You don't get along with your family at all. I noticed that when I went to your house yesterday. However, you master languages quickly and seem to be able to speak two or three languages without any problems at all. If you can teach your Al Bhed language to the class over the time I'm here, you can get the class to speak it every day and hide secrets that you don't want anybody except for yourselves to know. When in class, think of me as a parent or an uncle that you can speak to without getting mad at. Your rule is that you can speak the language only when the class masters it or if you're teaching it." Johnny actually smiled at the suggestion of teach Al Bhed. He could speak it and not get punished for it.

Shanks walked behind Johnny and handed Victoria the last paper. It had a black "D" on it. "You are an artist that rarely anybody sees. Your family favors your other siblings and even your friend because they can sing, dance, write, or many other things. They do not see your artistic talents. For the next while, I would like you to think of me as a parent that sees you for what you are...and since I'm a temporary parent, I want you to draw whatever you want when I tell you." Victoria looked grateful and nodded.

Although, all the papers were handed out, Shanks had something to say to Lynn, who was seated behind Victoria. "Lynn, your family owns half of this island. They baby you. They give you no responsibilities and basically give you whatever you want, which leads to you thinking that you can have and do whatever you want and nobody can say or do anything to tell you no. Well, while we're both here, I'm going to be a temporary guardian and while I'm your guardian, you will not get what you want or be babied. You will also not be speaking through that little communicator in class. Now, where is your paper?"

Lynn actually started to protest. "That's not fair! You have no right treating me like I'm not any better than you! And besides, I don't have to do any papers. My looks will get me through life and get me lots of money."

Maura snorted from her desk, "Right. You think that will change her? Once a spoiled bitch always a spoiled bitch."

"Shut up, Maura!" Lynn screamed from her seat.

"Maura, you're not helping. Leave the spoiled brat alone." Shanks told Maura.

Maura smirked and nodded. She reached for her desk to pull out a cigarette, but was stopped when Shanks slammed his one hand on her desk. The girl jumped as she stared into the eyes of her teacher.

"I want all those cigarettes gone. You can smoke and piss off your sister at your own house, but while you're here learning under me, you will not smoke." He told her. He walked up to the front of the class and announced, "That goes for everybody here, too. No smoking, drinking or stealing will happen in this class. We don't need to smell the second-hand smoke. We also don't need to end up getting in a drunken fight if somebody steals another's items. Everyone got me?"

"Whatever." The class muttered. Well, it wasn't exactly the response Shanks was hoping for, but it was something. The next day he would work on getting the class to sound more enthusiastic when asked a question.

"Good. And now, for this morning's lesson. We're going to do some health. I got a friend that I borrowed some medicines and bandages from." He dug into his bag and pulled out a bottle. After looking at the label, he announced, "I got some rubbing alcohol. I'm guessing that you pour it into wounds and it makes the wounds heal and prevent infections."

"That's iodine, idiot." Elie said from her desk.

"Hey, I'm the teacher here and I know what I'm talking about. If I say that if the alcohol heals the wounds then that's what it's for." Shanks answered. "And now for a little demonstration. Since Kurt was nice enough to cut me with the dagger, I can use the alcohol to heal the wounds to show that it will do nothing heal." Elie rolled her eyes as she heard her teacher say that last part.

Shanks was not a healer. He knew that and so did the rest of the crew he traveled with and it sounded like Elie did too. The rest of the class probably didn't know that or if they did, then they were doing a good job of hiding the fact that they knew. The medicine he had did have the word "alcohol" on the label and ever since he was a kid, when he got hurt, alcohol was used to clean the wound. Unfortunately...

"AH SHIT! THIS CRAP BURNS!" Shanks screamed as he felt the rubbing alcohol enter a small, open wound on his left shoulder. He only put a little bit of the alcohol, not any more than ten drops, on the wound, but it burned like hell. Thankfully, because he only used a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol, the pain didn't last more than forty-five seconds.

"I told you, it was iodine not rubbing alcohol." Elie told him after the pain went away. Okay, she knew what she was talking about and definitely knew more about healing than he probably ever would. "You suck as a healer."

"You're right. I do suck as a healer. I can't heal worth a damn except for if I have to bandage little cuts. You know more about it than I do. From this moment on, Elie, you will be the new health teacher." Shanks announced, "So, get up here and teach us something."

Elie didn't move. All she did was stare hatefully at the man in front of the class although she had to admit that she was a little entertained when he injured himself because of the little healing knowledge he had. After a moment of staring, Elie spoke up in the same emotionless voice her father had, "You can't control me."

"Come on, Elie. I'm the leader here so get up here."

"No. I don't want to."

"Elie..."

Kurt decided to speak up in his cousin's defense, "She said she doesn't want to and if she doesn't want to then she doesn't have to."

Kurt and Elie were both kids. Shanks knew that, but what he also knew in the two days he'd known them, was that he could easily take them out if they weren't partnered up, but when they were together it would be almost impossible to take them down. Why Elie didn't want to teach health when she was clearly good at it was beyond Shanks, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. She had Kurt on her side and there was no way he could change her mind now.

"Okay kids and Larry, health is over. I hope you guys learned something."

"We learned that you're a sucky healer." Johnny answered.

"Uhhh...right. Well, that's something." Shanks admitted. Hey, it was true. He was surprised to hear that coming out of Johnny. Sure he expected something like what Johnny said to be said, but he thought that something like that would be coming out of Maura.

Time to move on the next thing on the teacher's mind. Art. Victoria liked art. If she didn't, then she wouldn't be drawing constantly in class nor would she be angry that her art supplies were taken away the night before by her parents due to a misunderstanding. Plus, drawing might lift her spirits and possibly some of the other students if she helped them with their drawing.

The room had a large closet that was only about nine feet away from the storage room that originally had the lab coat that Shanks took the day before after the students stole his clothes. The metal closet wasn't locked and probably the reason for that was that there wasn't much in the closet to begin with. Extra chalk for the blackboard, broken crayons, a few colored pencils, about one hundred sheets of white paper, some construction paper, and a few pens were in there. That was actually pretty pathetic.

Although Shanks had not been in a classroom since he was a really young kid, probably about nine or ten, at least the storage closets had more things inside them. The one here in his classroom didn't even have any markers or scissors. There was basically nothing and the whole class had to split all the supplies. Well, everyone would have to make do with what they had.

The little items that were in the storage closet fit in his one arm while he only took one single trip from the closet back to his desk. The things in his arm were dropped ungracefully onto the big desk in the front. A few colored pencils and papers bounced from the desktop to the floor. A dull rattling sound from the colored pencils echoed for about ten seconds as they rolled across the floor.

"Is this all you guys have?" Shanks asked the class.

"Unfortunately. This school worries more about sports, dances, and the classes that are better than us. We're stuck with the supplies the other classes are done using." Victoria explained in an upset voice.

"We only get a break if our teachers actually buy supplies for the class. This class gets the leftover money that wasn't used on dances, supplies for the other classes, and sports equipment." Johnny continued. "Sometimes we don't get any money at all."

Shanks turned to Lynn, who was staring at another student with a hand under her chin and a dreamy smile on her face. He looked at who Lynn was looking at and noticed that she had her eyes on Kyler. She kept looking at him and didn't move until Shanks asked her, "Lynn, your family owns half of this island. Don't they give this class any money?"

Lynn snorted and turned to her teacher, "Right. You think my parents and me actually give a damn about this class? Nobody here in the school give a damn about the others here. I'll be out of this class by next week."

"Thank God." Maura said out loud.

"Maura..." Shanks started. Maura rolled her eyes and shut her mouth. Lynn also didn't say anything, a relief to Shanks. He wouldn't have to listen to her whining or arguing for the moment. Now it was time for him to get to what he planned on doing with the class even if only a few were paying attention to him or he had only a few little art supplies left to use for the class. "Okay, since health didn't work and because I don't want to listen to any of Lynn's whining or Maura's talking back, we're going to do some art. I want you all to take a piece of paper or more and at least one crayon or colored pencil. With your supplies, I want you to draw something. It can be what you want, what you like, or anything else but it has to be something that you can explain."

At the start only Victoria, Maura, and Larry actually started walking up to the front to grab what they wanted. Kyler, Johnny, Lynn, Elie, and Kurt stayed put in their seats. They didn't want to move from where they sat.

Shanks had another idea to get them to move, "If you follow my instruction, tomorrow I'll take you to a place that has barrels of alcohol and drinks that I'm sure not even Elie has ever tasted and you'll all get to have all you want. In that place there are guys that will challenge you to fights and might even teach you something, but everyone has to do what I say."

The place Shanks was speaking of was nowhere but his own crew ship. He was telling the truth. The places that the Red Hair Pirates had traveled had rum, wine, and tons of other alcohol and he was sure that the people here on Starlight Island had never heard of some of the rum and wine brought over...mainly because the drinks were made secretly in little cities in all the blues. The crewmen were always looking for a good fight and it seemed that Kurt and Elie were, too. He probably should have thought it over before saying that, though. His crew had been around kids before, but that was a long time ago and they probably wouldn't want to be around his students. Oh well. They would have to live with it if all the students followed his order.

His plan worked. As soon as he finished making his promise, Kyler, Johnny, and Lynn started heading for the front. Elie looked at Kurt, who just simply shrugged. The two climbed out of their seats and followed the actions of the other students. Within thirty seconds, all eight of the students had a piece of paper and a drawing item before being seated in their own desks.

"Hey, can we turn on the radio?" Kyler asked from in front of Maura.

"The what?" Shanks asked.

"The radio." Kyler repeated. He pointed at a black box with knobs in the back of the room.

"Oh. Okay." Shanks answered. This was a simple request that wasn't ordered, so what harm could it do.

Kyler grinned and walked to the radio and turned one of the knobs. Some talking came out of the box followed by a song that was being sung with an upbeat tune.

"Ooh! I love this song!" Maura cried out. With nobody stopping her, she began to sing along with some of the song. She sang a little louder than the singer on the radio, but she didn't miss a word nor did she sound terrible with each word that came from her mouth.

_I still hear your voice, when you sleep next to me.  
__I still feel your touch in my dreams.  
__Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why.  
__Without you it's hard to survive. _

_Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
__And everytime we kiss, I swear I could fly.  
__Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
__I need you by my side._

"Maura, shut up! You're ruining the song with your annoying singing." Lynn shouted from her desk. Maura ignored her and kept singing the song.

Shanks didn't know why Lynn had something against Maura's singing. She was wonderful. Her voice was pure and melodic, like that of a siren's. He didn't say anything to tell her to stop singing. So far, only Lynn was complaining while the others were simply drawing away. Hell, even Kurt and Elie were drawing away with a broken crayon and piece of paper while the smoker sang and if those two weren't complaining, then he wouldn't say anything to stop Maura.

Minutes passed, although Shanks wasn't sure how many actually passed, and Maura kept singing while the class kept drawing and Lynn kept whining.

For the first time in the two days Shanks had known her, Victoria finally decided to speak up against Lynn. "Lynn, shut up and enjoy the song. You're just jealous that Maura can actually sing and dance while you can't." Victoria snapped at the whiner.

Lynn turned to Shanks and asked, "Are you going to let her talk to me like that!" She pointed at Victoria, who had continued drawing with the red colored pencil.

Shanks nodded and said, "Yup. Now shut up and do your work."

Lynn stared at him with her mouth wide open. Teachers never talked to her like that. Most of them were nicer about saying something like that while others didn't say anything at all. So, this guy was trying to make her be like the others? Not if she had something to do with it.

_Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
__And everytime we kiss, I swear I could fly.  
__Can't you feel my heart beat fast.  
__I want this to last.  
__I need you by my side._

The song was finally over and so was the singing Maura had been doing for the past few minutes. The rest of the class except for Lynn clapped for the performance Maura had just done. Even Kurt and Elie, who did not look the least bit interested while Maura was singing, were clapping for her with emotionless looks on her face.

"What the hell were you doing, Maura! You just ruined one of the best songs ever made with your horrible singing!" Lynn shouted.

"Lynn, for God's sake, stop being a baby. It's not my fault that I can sing really good and you hate it because you obviously can't." Maura argued.

"Pfft. That was the answer I expected from someone like you, Maura, you unwanted piece of garbage." Lynn answered back.

"Unwanted piece of garbage? That's the best thing you can come up with, Lynn, you stupid talentless bitch." Maura shouted at Lynn.

"Okay girls, that's enough. The last thing we need to listen to is the two of you screaming insults at each other. That could probably take hours before you girls move to bitch-slapping." Shanks interrupted.

"Besides Maura, she's not worth it." Johnny said from next to Maura. Lynn suddenly looked like she wanted to explode. How dare somebody say that about her.

"Alright, moving on. Everyone show me what you did and tell me what it means." Shanks announced to the class. "Maura, you're up first."

Maura raised a delicate eyebrow and asked, "It's because my last name is first right?" Shanks nodded. Maura let out a little sigh and held up her picture. On her piece of paper was a badly drawn picture of a stick figure girl that had her hair. She was tossing what looked like a pail of water on a half liquid woman. "This is what I want. I wanna see if tossing a pail of water on Alice will make her melt like the witch in _The Wizard of Oz_."

Shanks let out a little smirk and said sarcastically, "You better show your brother that. I'm sure that will make him very happy." He then turned to Larry and said in a calmer voice, "Okay, you're up, Larry."

Larry held up his picture. On it, drawn just as horribly as Maura's drawing, was a stick figure man that actually looked an awful lot like himself, walking away from the building, flipping it off as he walked away. "That's me getting my ass out of this building forever." he explained.

"I think everyone wants to do that on graduation. Maura, didn't Adam do that on his graduation day?" Victoria asked. Maura nodded.

Shanks let out a chuckle. "Kyler?"

Kyler held up his paper with a grin on his face. What was drawn on his picture looked like a cartoon of some sort made in orange crayon. On the paper was Manson and it looked like a soccer ball was shoved halfway up his ass. No explanation was needed, but he earned the grins and laughs from the other students.

Shanks laughed and took the paper from Kyler. "I think I'll take this. This will give the people I live with a good laugh." he explained. While still laughing, he called on the next person, "Johnny?"

Johnny's paper was like Kyler's. It looked like some sort of a cartoon, but drawn in yellow colored pencil mixed with a little bit of green. Six kids were destroying a building with the words "Morning Glory High" written above it. Due to the hair styles and a few items held in the hands of the kids, Shanks was able to tell that the kids were Johnny, Victoria, Kyler, Maura, Elie, and Kurt. "It's our rebellion against this hellhole of a school." Johnny explained. From next to Johnny, Kyler gave the other boy a high-five.

Shanks took that paper away, too, claiming to want to use it for the crew's good laugh. "Victoria? What do you have for us?" he asked Victoria.

Victoria made a few little last second touches before holding up her drawing with a smile on her face. Drawn on the paper were seven people, the students minus Larry. Six of the seven were smiling. Elie and Kurt were standing back-to-back on the left side of the page with smirks on their faces and fists in the air. Kyler and Maura were next to them, at around the middle of the sheet. Like Elie and Kurt, they were standing back-to-back, but had open-mouthed smiles on their faces. Kyler had a soccer ball tucked under his right arm while Maura held a microphone. Johnny and Victoria were next to Kyler and Maura, at the right side. They were also standing back-to-back with smiles on their faces. Johnny wasn't holding anything, but Victoria was holding a paint brush in her left hand. Lynn was at the far right side of the page. She was the only one by herself and also the only one that was staring at the others on the paper with a hateful grin. Victoria, despite the fact that she only used a simple violet colored pencil, got all the details down for each student in her picture so each student looked like the way they really did. "Meet the Future that nobody expects to see." Victoria announced proudly.

Lynn looked at the picture and decided to try whining again, "Hey, that's not fair! Why am I the only one that is unwanted? That should be Maura! Why do you have to be mean to me!"

Shanks took the picture from Victoria, "I think I'll take this so that when I leave and don't see this, I'll know what could have been. Elie, you got something?"

Elie held up her drawing. An emotionless look was on her face. On the paper, drawn in a baby-blue crayon was a picture of four girls dancing on a stage that was decorated in Christmas decorations. One of the girls looked like she fell to the ground on her ass and began to cry. Two other girls stood in the background not doing anything but standing there emotionlessly. The fourth girl was at the end of the stage holding something, a doll probably, and dancing.

Shanks was about to ask Elie was the picture was about when Kyler yelled, "Dude, Elie! I didn't think that somebody would remember something like that!"

"What is it? What's the picture about?" Shanks asked.

"Elie drew the incident that happened at the Christmas play four months ago. The drama club made a new, more modern version of _The Nutcracker_ for a play. Both Lynn and Maura were in that. On opening night, when the auditorium was packed, right in the middle of the play where both Lynn and Maura were supposed to dance, Lynn missed a step and fell down on her ass and started crying." Victoria explained.

"Everyone was laughing at her." Larry added. "Why did you draw that, Elie?"

Elie shrugged her shoulders and simply answered, "It amused me."

"It wasn't my fault that I fell! Maura tripped me!" Lynn argued.

"Lynn, Maura was all the way at the other side of the stage, how the hell could she trip you?" Johnny asked.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Lynn screamed.

Shanks walked up to Elie and held out his hand. "Can I have that? I can look at that if I need a laugh."

Elie shrugged and handed the paper to him.

Shanks smiled at her. She didn't smile back. It didn't really bother Shanks. At least he knew that Elie wasn't an emotionless brat. "Lynn, what do you have?"

Lynn looked like she was about ready to start crying. Already it looked like most of the other drawings were insulting her. She wasn't a part of them or if she was, she was being made fun of. Nonetheless, she held up her paper. Drawn on it in pink crayon was what looked like a picture of Lynn dressed in what looked like a weird but skimpy outfit standing in front of a large group of people. The other people were bowing in front of her.

"Somehow, I'm afraid to ask what that is supposed to mean." Shanks told her.

"You're just as mean as everyone else!" Lynn shouted, "This is my future. Soon, the people on this backwater island will realize how great I am and will bow to me."

"Great, it's the apocalypse." Maura muttered.

"Shut up, Maura!" Lynn screamed. She turned to Shanks and asked in a sweeter voice, "Do you want to keep my picture, too?"

Shanks shook his head and answered, "No, that's okay. Just the warning for the apocalypse is enough. I don't need a picture, too. You keep it." Lynn looked angry, but didn't say anything else to him. Only one person was left. "Kurt, what did you make?"

Kurt held up his paper with an emotionless look on his face identical to the one on Elie's. His picture looked like him holding a handgun with gun coming out of it, as if just being fired. Despite being drawn with a broken gray crayon, this was a nice drawing, though not as nice as Victoria's picture. "When I don't beat the crap out of people, I shoot things." Kurt explained.

Shanks took his picture from him and explained, "I have some of the people I live with that are master sharpshooters. We're going to go visit them tomorrow on our little trip and they can teach you techniques to shoot your targets without even pointing at them with a handgun." He stood up in front of the class and announced, "Well, you all did a good job and I'm actually surprised you listened to me when I ordered you to do something. None of this is going to be leaving the classroom, so you don't have to worry about being punished and neither do I so..."

"I wanna make a complaint about all the hateful pictures and comments that were made against me!" Lynn argued. "You all are acting so mean and hateful and I haven't even done anything to you. If it wasn't for me..."

At the same time, all the students in the class roared, "SHUT THE HELL UP!" Even Kurt and Elie were yelling that. Shouts went back and forth between Lynn and the other students, mixed in with each other so the only thing Shanks could hear was a loud noise.

It seemed like a whole day passed when the bell finally rang. At the same time, the eight students in the room rushed out of the room. They were gone in five seconds.

Shanks took a look at the clock and placed a hand on his head, trying to dull the pounding that was occurring in side his head. It was wasn't even the afternoon yet; it was time for lunch and the students would be back in about an hour. _Great. It's only 10:30 and already I got a headache. These kids are going to kill me._ Shanks thought as he tried his hardest to enjoy the temporary silence in the room.

0000000000

A/N: Okay, that's chapter 4 for you guys. You were close when you tried to guess Johnny's language, **Krow Blood**. He's speaking Al Bhed. Al Bhed is a language that is spoken by a group of people with blonde hair and swirly green eyes (called the Al Bhed) in Final Fantasy X and X-2. I love speaking Al Bhed. I also do not know any Italian. I actually had to go online to figure out how to translate English words to Italian.

Alright, and to solve some confusion about the last chapter. I know I did not say why Johnny and Victoria were beating Shanks. I didn't say why ANY of the kids were beating Shanks up because technically Kyler wasn't even being yelled at, that was Maura that was being yelled at. The explanation was to be made in this chapter. Also about Shanks. I have not played Grand Battle nor do I plan on doing so in the future. The reasons: I do not like video games that are made from anime and never really have and Grand Battle is only a game that is like Mortal Kombat/Super Smash Brothers and I grow bored of those games within two weeks. Also, I do not like the dubbed voices of the characters (or even the show) and you or the computer controls Shanks so of course he's going to be good. Hell, if you got to fight as Rika, the little girl that tried to give rice balls (or cookies in the dubbed version) to an imprisoned Zoro (I refuse to ever call him 'Zolo') you could find a way to make her win fights despite the fact that she's a little girl with no weapon knowledge.

The song that Maura was singing was _Everytime we touch _by Cascada. I love that song so much. R/R, but don't flame me please and if any of you have any suggestions or want to point out something that I did incorrectly or put in something that does not make sense, then do not hesitate to let me know through e-mail or review.


	5. A Cat Fight and the Soccer Game

Ch.5- A Cat Fight and the Soccer Game

Ten minutes passed before the headache that Shanks got began to subside. The room turned silent after he fiddled with the knobs to turn off the radio and he was deeply grateful for that. These kids that he was practically baby-sitting were starting to annoy the hell out of him. Perhaps it was because he was acting nicer because they were kids. Had they been adults, he'd have been acting harder, tougher, like he acted with his own pirate crew. That was probably it. If he was tougher on the class, he could probably get them out of here and they would listen to him a lot more without whining or complaining.

Shanks opened up the desk that was to be his and pulled out a piece of a paper and a half used up pen. The paper and pen were placed in front of him as he thought of how he would act in front of each and every student and what he would make them do to make them listen to him or at least get them to shut up and stop screaming at one another.

Victoria was probably the easiest one to take care of. She was timid, shy. It was revealed when he met her at her home and the first day he saw her when she rarely spoke. The only one she talked back to was Lynn. He probably would end up scaring her if he screamed at her. That happened often on his ship with Saiyoru, who was just as timid as Victoria. A few simple requests in the form of orders would be said to her and she would listen to him.

Larry was also pretty easy to take care of. The man was twenty-five, older than his youngest crewmate. All he needed was an order and the man would do what he was told. No screaming or shouting would be needed. Just a simple request in the form of a soft order and that would be it.

Johnny already had a responsibility. He would be teaching the class a new language, but that didn't mean that that would prevent him from acting out. Sometimes he still talked back to the others, preferably Lynn, though not as much as Maura. Shanks would be doing the same thing to him as he'd be doing to Victoria. He'd make a few simple requests in the form of orders and he would soon follow...if he was lucky.

Maura and Lynn...those girls were complete enemies. Had the rest of the class not been around to separate the two, they would have ripped each other's throats out already. Both girls were probably going to end up killing him if Elie and Kurt didn't finish the job before he left. Shanks wanted to use the same technique against both girls, but whatever punishment that would work on one girl would cause the other to make a comment back. An idea suddenly popped into his head. Work worked on his ship. He had a few members years ago that didn't want to do anything when they first came onto the ship and often didn't listen to their captain, so they were forced to scrub the ship and if they didn't listen to him, then he would punish them by raising a fist or scaring them by using something else. That's what Shanks would use against Maura and Lynn.

Kyler was a lazy person, it was easy to tell. Most of the time, whenever Maura did something, he would, too. He wasn't as severe as Maura, though. He didn't physically fight with anybody Shanks knew about. The only thing that Shanks could think of doing to get the boy to listen to him was to order him around by yelling. If the boy didn't listen, then he would find a way to make him listen by scaring him with the same technique as he would do with Maura and Lynn. This would work with Larry, too.

That only left Kurt and Elie, the two fighters. They were hiding something from him and they were also not afraid to hit something or someone or even to cause another excruciating pain. At first he assumed that if he was nice to the two, they would be nice and listen to him, but that was untrue. He was nice, but they still hit him and didn't listen to him. The only time that happened was when he offered to take them upon his ship. Now, it was time to try something new. If they were going to attempt to hit him or even if they didn't listen to his orders, he would threaten to hit them. If they didn't believe him or didn't care, he would do it. From this day forward, he would not consider the cousins kids, but adults.

He was done. He finally had what he was going to do with every one of his students. He could probably get his plans to work starting right after lunchtime. The eight students of his were probably in the cafeteria like they were yesterday when his clothes got taken away. The only thing left for him to do was find the cafeteria and get something to eat before having to deal with the kids again.

Shanks opened the door to the classroom and stepped out into the empty hallway. No sounds could be heard. No noises from the other classes on the same floor. No echoing wheels from the garbage can the janitor pulled. Nothing. Only the sounds of his own footsteps echoing through the halls when he began to walk could be heard.

Tip. Tip. Tip. The footsteps did not get either louder nor softer with each step he took. The echoes were the only thing that was heard. Deep inside, Shanks began to feel like something, a hidden enemy, was about to come up and grab him from behind or even to attack him. His body stiffened and he continued to walk, looking from side-to-side and even turning his head back so he could see behind. No surprise attacks came.

Finally, another sound besides the echoing footsteps came after Shanks walked down the stairs onto the first floor. Shouting, obnoxious laughing, and the sound of money being passed around. Accompanying the sounds was the intoxicating smell of food being cooked.

The smell had a strong effect against Shanks as the man followed the smell, ignoring anything or anyone around him. The smell led him to a large room that was packed full of tables and students eating while talking amongst each other. At the left side of the room was a kitchen with a short line of only about four kids waiting to get their food. He noticed all of his students except for Larry sitting all around the room.

Johnny, Victoria, Kyler, and Maura were seated at a table in the middle of the room. Although they were surrounded by other kids at the table, they were not talking to the others. They were only talking and laughing amongst each other.

Kurt and Elie were sitting in the back of the room, at a small rickety table. Also seated at the table were about five other kids: three boys and two girls, wearing all black and dressed in spikes and muscle shirts. The five others looked like the strong, bully types like Kurt and Elie, but they weren't saying anything. In fact, they wouldn't even look at Kurt and Elie. The two cousins weren't saying anything either. Slowly, they bit into their what looked like sandwiches, and stared emotionlessly at the others around them.

Lynn was the hardest to find. She was seated at a table around the front of the room surrounded by all girls dressed in skimpy clothes...just like her. All the girls even had long hair and were almost all blondes. Only two of the twenty girls were brunettes and another two had dark skin and matching eyes. They were all equally loud. They talked at the same time and giggled at the exact same time. It was a little creepy.

"Hey! You're that teacher for them kids on the top floor, right!" A woman with frizzy black hair covered with a hair net shouted at Shanks from the kitchens.

The red haired man nodded and walked over to the woman. "Thought so. I'm surprised you came for another day. You teachers're supposed ta be in the teacher's lounge for lunch." The woman said in a strange accent the man had never heard before in his life. From under the counter the woman stood at, she pulled out a paper bag and handed it towards Shanks.

Shanks calmly walked to the woman and grabbed the bag. "Thanks...Brenda." he said after looking at the little name tag clipped on a thin, white T-shirt just above her left breast.

The woman, Brenda, smiled and said simply, "No problem. Hope ya stay longer." She got back to the even smaller line of kids waiting to get something to eat.

Shanks turned away from Brenda and began to head out of the cafeteria. A few steps out the door of the cafeteria and rather than the noise get softer, it got louder for some reason followed by angry screams that sounded awfully familiar.

"AH! YOU BITCH! THIS IS A NEW SHIRT!"

"IT'S CALLED AN ACCIDENT AND YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN WATCHING WHERE YOU WERE GOING!"

"YOU WANTED TO DO THIS, YOU GODDAMN PATHETIC BAR GIRL!"

"FUCK OFF, WHORE!"

A crashing sound came from the cafeteria with the screams from the two continuing. A large male shout joined the screams, "CAT FIGHT!" Cheering followed the male voice along with the screams.

Shanks turned around and peeked back into the cafeteria. In the middle of the lunchroom were two girls, a blonde and a redhead, yanking on each other's hair and slapping each other's faces. The blonde had some spaghetti sauce on her shirt with some noodles still stuck to the breast part of her shirt. The red head had some noodles flung onto her shirt. Half of the lunchroom, the kids that weren't dressed as nicely as Lynn, shouted out for the redhead, "Get her Maura! Kick her ass!"

The other half, the rich and possibly popular students, were cheering for the blonde, "You can do it, Lynn! Don't let that bar girl win!"

None of the students or the lunchladies did anything to stop the fighting, so the two girls continued fighting. From what it looked like, if Manson and Sarah hadn't come by to help Johnny, Victoria, and Kyler break the two apart and get the rest of the kids to stop screaming, Maura would have won this fight. She already looked like she was winning before the two came along.

Manson and Sarah practically drug Lynn and Maura away from the large crowd of students and back to the principal's office. Shanks followed. He wanted to know what was going on and see how Manson would deal with the two girls. He almost couldn't contain the laughter boiling inside after he got a good look at both girls when they sat down in chairs in front of Manson. Maura had a few nail scratches on her face, a red cheek, and her red hair was messy. Lynn had two broken nails, possibly from scratching Maura, a red cheek, and some spaghetti sauce and noodles stuck to her top and into her hair and on her face. It actually looked hilarious despite the fact that the two were, in a way, injured.

"Okay Miss Anders and Miss Perry. What happened?" Manson asked with a sigh.

"She threw her lunch on my expensive new shirt and then she began to slap me!" Lynn shouted and pointed at Maura accusingly.

"That's a lie!" Maura shouted, "Sure my food went onto her shirt, but it's not my fault that she bumped into me when I was trying to carry the rest of my lunch to the garbage. It's called an accident. It's not like I meant for it to fly onto her shirt and she threw the first punch! I just retaliated like I was taught to do."

Manson placed a hand on his forehead and with two fingers, started to massage his temple. "Maura, I'm getting tired of this happening. You are getting closer and closer to getting yourself suspended from this school. Three days detention starting tomorrow."

"What! You're punishing me and not her? She started this whole damn fight, so why am I getting in trouble for this! You're always doing this! You punish me and don't even do anything to Lynn even though she always starts the fights!" Maura shouted at Manson in a squeaky sort of voice.

"It's complicated, Maura." Manson explained.

"It's because her and her fucking family keep buying you off to make sure that Lynn doesn't get in trouble! You're pathetic, Manson! You let a simple family walk all over you and destroy the dreams and futures of the other students!" Maura screamed at Manson. The girl jolted out of her chair and stomped out of the room.

Lynn smiled innocently at Manson and handed him a green piece of paper with a "50" and an unfamiliar man printed on it. "Thank you so much, Principal Manson. I appreciate all what you've done for me." She calmly walked out of the room and headed back to the cafeteria.

Shanks followed Sarah back to the teacher's lounge and sat at a table next to her. As he lifted a container of cooked spaghetti, a ham sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap, and a bottle of juice, he said, "I take it that the fights between Maura and Lynn happen often."

Sarah nodded her head and answered truthfully, "I've only been working at this school for since last year and ever since the new school year started and Maura came to this school as a Freshman, both girls have been sent down to the office thirty-something times in the amount of seven months. Hell, the truth is that Lynn starts them all."

"So, why don't you punish her or something?" Shanks asked before taking a bite out of his now unwrapped sandwich.

"Have you ever punished the kids you watch over?" Sarah asked him. Shanks nodded. "Well, it's a little difficult here. Lynn's family funds the school. They practically own the school and if we punish Lynn for a fight, then the funding stops and this school will fail. That's just how it is. We're one of the best schools in this state and if the funding stops, then we will no longer be one of the best."

That explained why Manson was so nervous about the punishment he only gave to Maura. He knew that she didn't start it yet he could only punish the one that didn't start the fight. Maura was right. He was pathetic.

Lunch went by faster than he expected and before he knew it, Shanks was forced to go back to his tiring classroom. After the time he spent watching the fight and listening to the pathetic punishments and excuses, it seemed like his time wouldn't get any easier unless he went with his plan and get harder with the kids.

Like before, none of his students were sitting quietly in their seats. Kyler, Maura, Victoria, and Johnny were laughing while standing in a corner of the room. Lynn was glaring at Maura while talking into her little communicator. Kurt and Elie, the two that seemed to want to talk the least with the others, were surprisingly talking with Larry. No emotion was on their faces, but they were talking.

Shanks walked up to Kyler and grabbed the soccer ball from under the boy's arm.

"Hey, what the hell!" Kyler shouted.

"Okay, you little bastards! It's time for us to get serious! If I'm going to be stuck here teaching you, it's about damn time you listen to me and work together. I don't give a damn if you are boyfriend and girlfriend, best friends, or even mortal enemies. You are all going to work with each other and with me! Now, get ready! We're all going out onto the field to play a little game of soccer!" Shanks commanded.

"Soccer?" Elie asked from her spot.

"Damn right! Okay, let's get going!" Shanks commanded.

"Ugh. I don't want to play soccer! I'll get all sweaty and my clothes will get filthy." Lynn whined as she turned off her communicator.

"Your clothes are already dirty, so what's the difference?"

"I don't want to play." Lynn whined.

Whining. That was something Shanks hated. He hated when both kids and adults did it. He listened to Luffy whining years ago when the boy was only seven and deep inside, he wanted to beat the kid's ass since his parents wouldn't. He never did, though. He just ignored it, but now it was time to make a change with that. No longer would he listen to whining. He dropped Kyler's soccer ball, walked over to Maura's desk, and pulled out her metal pole hidden with her cigarette packs and slammed it hard upon Lynn's desk.

Lynn screamed as the metal hit the wood of her desk. The rest of the students jumped and stared at Shanks.

"Get up! All of you! We're going to play soccer and you're going to have a damn good time!" Shanks shouted at the others.

Victoria, Johnny, and Lynn were shaking as they stood in a line of three next to the door. Larry laughed, but joined them.

"You going to hit us with that thing?" Maura asked sarcastically.

Shanks swung the pole at her. The girl dodged it and ran to the door with Kyler following her. Elie and Kurt shrugged and joined the others. Shanks dropped the pole and picked up Kyler's soccer ball. "Okay, boys and girls. Let's get going!"

A few students were both in the halls and out on one side of the field stared in shock at the class of the "super special kids" walk out of the building and onto the school field. The class was usually crammed into the room at the top of the building and never came onto the field, so what the hell were they doing out now. The students on the field, a PE class on a free day, abandoned whatever sports they were playing and took seats on the bleachers so they could watch the eight students from the other class play a game on the left part of the field, the side with the soccer goals.

"Okay. The eight of you will be split up in two teams. Kyler will be the captain of Team 1 and Johnny will be the captain of Team 2. Boys, pick your teammates and the positions they will be playing." Shanks announced to the class.

"Maura." Kyler announced. Maura walked over to him.

"Victoria." Johnny announced. Victoria came to his side.

"Larry." Kyler announced. Larry smirked as he walked to Kyler's side.

"Kurt." Johnny announced. Kurt reluctantly walked over to his side.

"Elie." Kyler announced. Elie didn't look like she cared when she walked to Kyler's side.

Johnny looked at the remaining student left: Lynn, the queen of whiners. "Lynn." Johnny moaned, clearly showing his disappointment.

Kyler took his team in a little four person huddle and Johnny did the same to his team. By the time the boys were done, the teams were set up. Larry and Kurt walked back to the goals on their sides of the field. Standing in the right of the field were Maura and Victoria. Standing in the left were Elie and Lynn. Standing right in the center were Kyler and Johnny.

"Okay, kids and Larry. Remember that this is a game and if you break a nail or scrape a knee...I don't give a damn. Just keep on playing." Shanks shouted. He tossed the ball in the field and the game began.

The soccer game went on a lot better than Shanks thought it would go. Personally, he expected the only people that would be moving would be Kyler and possibly Johnny or Maura. He expected Lynn to be crying if the ball hit her in the leg or if she fell down. He expected the timid Victoria to be too afraid to kick the ball or steal from the opposing team. He expected Larry and Kurt to stand lazily at the goals, not caring if the ball went passed them or not. He expected Elie to tackle a person from the opposing team if they got in her way. He was mistaken.

Shanks' prediction about Lynn was correct. The girl was whining and crying when the ball hit her leg and when she slipped on her butt on a pile of dirt. Kurt and Larry were hunched over, in the correct position the goalies were in, waiting for the ball to come to them so they could knock it back. Maura was just running around, kicking the ball when necessary, ignoring Lynn's whines if she stole the ball from her. Kyler and Johnny probably had the most experience in soccer. They were running around all over the field, stealing the ball from each other and the members from the opposing team. There was only one student that never got the ball stolen was Elie. She wasn't a really good player, but she had a look on her face that caused the others that tried to steal the ball from her to stop in their tracks.

The game was going along great for the first seven minutes before another fight happened. Kyler had the ball in his position and he was rushing towards Kurt, hoping to make the first goal for his team, when, out of the blue, Lynn tackled Kyler to the ground. To most people, it would seem like the tackle was a little mistake, but it appeared that it wasn't when Lynn gripped Kyler's shoulders and smiled at him. She would not let go even though he struggled to get her off of him.

Maura could easily see that it wasn't an accident and, like a berserk wolf, she ran to Lynn and screamed, "GET OFF MY BOYFRIEND!" Lynn didn't move. Without making a second thought, she clenched a fist and gave a good, hard punch to the right eye of Lynn.

The blonde girl screamed and released her grip from Kyler's shoulders. She jumped up and stared at Maura with her left eye after placing a hand over her right. "You...you bitch!" she shrieked.

"You'll get another one if you do that again with my boyfriend!" Maura shouted back.

Lynn removed her hand and ran back at Maura with her arms swinging...just like what happened in the lunchroom not more than a half hour ago. It was time for Shanks to intervene.

Victoria was already starting to hold Maura back with the help of Kyler. "Maura, stop it! You already got in trouble today. Don't make it any worse." Victoria muttered at Maura.

Shanks, with his only arm, grabbed Lynn back from Maura by the shirt and it wasn't easy. The girl was pissed and had some extra strength hidden deep inside that was just being released. He almost couldn't hold her back, but he managed to do it and finally let go when some of that anger was burned off.

By this time, Lynn was yet again crying. "She hit my eye! I'm going to be blind!" Lynn cried as she thought about her eye.

Shanks turned to Elie and motioned for her to come over. She obeyed him and looked at Lynn's eye. "Black eye. She'll be okay in a week." Elie answered only five seconds later.

"Okay, kids. That's enough. Back to the game. Lynn, stop crying about your damn black eye. You'll be fine." Shanks ordered his students. Everybody, even the crying Lynn, obeyed him.

The soccer game only lasted another ten minutes. Four minutes into the second part of the game, Victoria finally got the soccer ball and while she was running with it, she somehow managed to trip over the ball rather than kick it. The fall did not hurt her, but something else did.

From the bleachers, a large, muscley boy saw Victoria trip and fall. He let out a laugh before shouting, "You suck!" The rest of the kids on the bleachers laughed with him.

Victoria was not physically hurt, but the words hurt her emotionlessly. She was horrible in soccer, but she felt that the others didn't have to make fun of her for it. All she did was trip over the ball and already the others were laughing endlessly at her. Her pale cheeks gained a deep, embarrassed blush before she ran away from the field and to the inside of the school.

"Victoria!" Maura screamed for her friend. She turned to the kids on the bleachers and shouted, "You're all bastards!" Maura abandoned the field and ran after Victoria, in hopes of calming down the embarrassed friend.

"Keep going, kids. Just because we lost Victoria and Maura doesn't mean that the game has to stop! The teams are still equal!" Shanks shouted at the rest of his class. The game continued.

Within the remaining six minutes, dark clouds plagued the sky and it began to pour outside. The game was abandoned as the rest of his class quickly ran inside with the soccer ball. The game was over with a score of 1-0. Kyler's team was the victor, but nobody seemed to really care. Rain was pouring and the students just wanted to get inside the school and out of the rain.

It was about 1:00pm when the game ended and the class on the top floor, Shanks' class, was acting just as wild as they did the first day Shanks came to teach the class. Maura was seated on Kyler's lap, kissing him roughly while holding a lit cigarette in her right hand. Kyler was returning the kisses while rubbing the areas around her back and chest. Lynn was in her desk, chatting away on her communicator rather loudly and laughing stupidly. Larry was seated in his desk, drinking from a brown container filled with an unknown but possibly alcoholic liquid. Elie was sitting in her desk, turned around to Kurt. "Okay, go." She said. Kurt, who's left hand was flat on his desk and his right had a dagger, nodded and began to quickly stab the part in between his fingers back and forth without stabbing a single finger. Johnny was speaking to Victoria in loud Al Bhed while holding out what looked like a mechanic slingshot with something wet and white in it. Victoria was normally the nicest student, but she took Johnny's item and spoke back to him in Al Bhed before pressing a button.

_Whoosh!_ The wet and white thing that was in Johnny's slingshot was quickly released and aimed at Shanks' head. Whether the attack was accidental or not, Shanks didn't know. What he did know was that he did not like the thing that hit him on the right cheek. The white item broke apart and almost covered his face. He knew what the item was. He used to make them all the time when he was at school or at home when he was a kid, back before he became a pirate. It was a spitball. A large, extremely moist spitball.

No apologies were made from either Johnny nor Victoria. In fact, the two completely ignored the fact that Victoria just shot a huge spitball at Shanks. Victoria blushed and handed the item back to Johnny and continued to talk back with Johnny in Al Bhed.

"Victoria! Johnny!" Shanks shouted at the two. They didn't move. They just continued talking to each other as if nothing was going on around them.

"Oh my God!...No way!...We have to go there!...Yeah...I'll meet you at the front of the school...love ya lots, girl." Lynn spoke into her communicator before switching it off. She slipped her communicator in her bag and slipped the bag over her shoulders. She then stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going, Lynn?" Shanks asked.

Lynn tossed back her long hair and answered simply, "If it's any of your business. I have some important business to do at the mall."

Maura, who was now finished with her business, said, "In other words...she's going to the mall to find more clothes to make her look like more of a whore than she already is."

Lynn didn't say anything and left the door anyway, despite her teacher's disapproval. She wasn't the only student to leave early. Maura picked up her bag and stood up from Kyler's lap.

"Well, I'm bored and everyone's probably going to leave soon, so I might as well go, too. I gotta get to work. You coming?" Maura's question was aimed at Kyler. Her boyfriend nodded and stood up.

"Hey Maura. I gotta get going, too and your work is on the way. Want me to drop you two off?" Larry asked. The offer was taken up and within three minutes, the three were out of the room and the school parking lot. Shanks had attempted to stop them, but they still had not listened to him. It didn't matter though. He had a plan for the next day to scare the hell out of his students and get them to listen to him.

The only students that remained were Johnny, Victoria, Kurt, and Elie. They were still not paying attention to their surroundings. Shanks tried talking to them and ordering them to do something, but they refused to do it. Finally, he decided to stop trying for the day. Half of his students were gone anyway.

"Okay, you little bastards. You can go home or to work or wherever the hell you want, but just remember this: tomorrow I'm taking you someplace where you will know what Hell feels like. I'll see you tomorrow morning." he announced to the remaining students.

Almost instantly, like Maura, Kyler, Larry, and Lynn, the final four grabbed their bags and left. Victoria and Johnny were out quicker than the others. Kurt and Elie were slower as they left and gave Shanks evil death-glares as they left. Shanks wasn't scared, though. Kurt and Elie were only kids and the next day when he took them onto his pirate ship to meet the rest of his crew, he would make sure that they were going to get scared out of their minds and would finally listen to him and obey his orders. The rest of the Red Hair Pirates would find a way to scare them. They knew how to scare people and with a simple order from their captain, they would scare the hell out of these kids.

Shanks smirked at his plan as he sat at his desk in his empty classroom. It was so perfect, so excellent that he couldn't help but imagine how the students were going to act when he finally got them to stop acting like little Hellraisers. The only thing he hated was that he would have to wait until the next day for the trip to begin.

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A/N: Okay, that's chapter 5. I know I focused mainly on Maura and Lynn, but in the next chapter I'm going to focus mainly on Victoria, Johnny, and the other students I haven't mentioned very much in this story. I also want to thank all you reviewers for your reviews. In the first four chapters I got 9 reviews. That's more than I got when I put up the first nine chapters of _The Melody of the Seas_. That's the most reviews I got for the first few chapters of ANY story I ever put up on this site...even the ones that were deleted.


	6. Time For Torture

Ch. 6- Time for Torture

"So, let me get this straight: You're going to bring your little class of Hellraisers over here tomorrow and you want all of us to act like hellraisers, too so we can scare the living hell out of those kids?" Ben asked after Shanks and the other working pirates got back to the ship.

Once everyone got back, Shanks explained the promise he made back when the class was in art, how if they listened to him, he would take them to a place with rum that not even Elie would know and how the other pirates would fight against them and teach them new moves. At the beginning, some of the other pirates actually didn't believe him, thinking that what he said was just a little joke, but after taking a second look at his straight face, they knew he wasn't lying.

"Yeah, basically. Either scare 'em or torture them. You guys up to it?" Shanks asked the crew.

"How old are those kids?" Yasopp asked.

Shanks shrugged, "I don't know. All I have is the addresses of the students. I think Elie is probably thirteen and I think Kyler is eighteen." Larry, being the twenty-five year old, would not be counted as a kid.

"I'm up for it. Sounds like fun." Lucky admitted. The rest of the crew agreed.

"Okay, that's good men. Just be extra careful with Elie and Kurt. I've seen what those two do, so I want you to scare them the best you can...oh and don't be afraid to hit them if you have to. They deserve it." Shanks announced.

"Aye aye, captain!" the crew shouted in unison before getting back to whatever business they were doing.

**THE NEXT DAY**

It was finally the next morning and once again, back for Shanks and the other pirates that were cursed to get jobs on the island to head off to work. That didn't bother Shanks, though. Today was the day he would get his students to listen to him. Today would be the day where he wouldn't have to be afraid of Kurt and Elie. Today would be the day where he would find a way to knock off the disruptive fighting between Maura and Lynn. Today would be the day that the rest would listen to what he had to say without giving him a headache and it would all start as soon as the eight stepped foot on the pirate ship.

When he first stepped foot through the doors of _Morning Glory High_, everything seemed so peaceful and normal. All the students were standing in groups, passing around papers or whispering amongst each other. He saw Lynn with her little group of rich, snobby girls gossiping and giggling. He could not see any of his other students and for some reason, he had a feeling that the others were planning something or at least doing something wrong and with each passing second, the feeling got stronger and stronger.

He was correct with his suspicious feeling when the speakers of the school began to echo in Manson's voice. At first he didn't think of anything about the voice. It wasn't until he heard what the voice was saying over the speakers that the feeling was known to be true, "Attention students of _Morning Glory High_, this is Principal Manson. Well, it's March 1st and you all know what that means, right?"

A small pause came as a few students said things like "No" and "What's so special about today? Is the superintendent coming for a visit?"

The voice continued, "March 1st is Moon-day, so everyone don't forget to moon any teachers you come across." Okay, that was a little…wrong, but it got the students to laugh. "I would also like to let you know that I have old, wrinkly balls that I love to scratch every hour on the hour."

By now, every student was laughing, even Lynn and her little clique. Most were laughing so hard that tears began to roll down their cheeks and they were having problems breathing. Shanks fought back the urge to laugh especially when Manson walked up next to Shanks with an angry red face. His body was shaking back and forth wildly like a volcano about to erupt.

"I'm going to go check up on my students." Shanks told Manson before leaving. Somehow, he knew that the rest of his students had something to do with it.

The voice over the speakers kept going as he walked up the few flights of stairs up to the top floor where his classroom was. His footsteps echoed softly as he walked down the hall. A voice was heard from the other side of the classroom door, the voice of the Manson imposter. With his one hand, Shanks opened the door and he found the source of the voice.

Johnny was seated in front of the radio in the back of the classroom, but something was weird about the radio. It looked as if somebody added a microphone to it and wires were leading from the radio up to the air vent at the top. As Victoria messed with the knobs, Johnny was speaking into the microphone, reading off papers with messages written by Kyler. Elie, Kurt, and Maura were seated in desks with smirks on their faces.

"I also have another announcement: if you are wearing anything by _Roxy_, you are now officially gay. And further more, for all of you that happen to be gay, come to my office at noon so you can have a special 'visit' from…" Johnny spoke into the microphone.

That's all Shanks wanted to hear. He pushed his way through the small group of his students and flipped the power switch to the radio. Johnny, Victoria, Kyler, Maura, Elie, and Kurt stared at him, but didn't say anything. "Having fun kids?" Shanks asked the six in front of him.

"We were until you came and ruined it." Maura told him.

Shanks smiled at the class and ignored Maura's comment. "So, you kids ready to get so scared that you'll piss your pants?" he asked. He looked around the room and noticed that two of his students were not present. He knew where Lynn was, but Larry was not there. "Hey, where's Larry?"

Maura lifted up her right hand. In between the fingers that originally had a cigarette was a folded piece of paper.

Shanks took the paper and read it in a low voice, "Can't make it on the trip. Got some business to take care of. Larry." Well, at least he wouldn't have to worry about dealing with one student of his.

"Lynn left a note on your desk." Victoria announced in a calm voice.

Shanks walked over to his desk and like Victoria had said, sitting on top of his desk, on a piece of paper that smelled faintly of berries. There, written in delicate letters, were the words "I'm sorry, but I will be unable to make today's trip. I have been invited to sit in a real classroom. I'll be back tomorrow. Lynn." Okay, it was official. Neither Larry nor Lynn were going to make the trip. Well, that was a good thing. Without Lynn, Shanks wouldn't have to worry about breaking up fights between Lynn and Maura and without Larry, Shanks wouldn't have to worry about explaining to his crew, the little disability with Larry and why a twenty-five year old was in a high school classroom.

The two letters were crumpled up and shoved in Shanks' pocket. After taking a deep breath, the red-haired captain turned to the kids and said, "Alright, we're going to the Marina for our trip." All the students groaned. "Come on, guys. Get up." Only Victoria, Johnny, and Maura stood up. Kyler, Elie, and Kurt stayed put in their seats.

Shanks reached to his side and pulled out his handgun, the same gun that Elie had stolen on his first day of work. He pointed it at the three that still sat. "Get up!" Shanks shouted. Kyler obeyed him, but not Kurt and Elie. In fact, they chose to test him to see if he would actually shoot them or not.

"You don't have any bullets in that." Elie told him. Wrong thing to say. On the first day she stole his gun, he said the same thing to her and she proved him wrong by firing a bullet that was close to hitting him. Now it was time for Shanks to do the same thing to her.

A bullet was fired in between Kurt and Elie. The bullet whizzed by them, catching some of the tips of Elie's shoulder-length brown hair, cutting it off. The bullet finally made it onto the wall.

Kurt stood up with his fists up. He was ready to attack Shanks for attempting to shoot him and getting close to hitting Elie. The gun was turned to him.

"Kurt, I have the hell of a lot more bullets than just that one in this gun and I also mastered sharp shooting years ago. I can fill your body with bullets in ten seconds. Now, get up or I will do it." Shanks told him. Okay, so the sharp shooting thing was a huge lie. The best sharpshooter he knew was Yasopp and not even he was good enough to fill a boy's body with bullets in ten seconds. However, Kurt didn't need to know that.

Kurt looked at Shanks with a pissed off look on his face. His fists tightened, but Shanks knew that he was just fighting off the urge to throw another punch. Kurt finally turned to Elie and nodded. The girl got the message and stood up from her desk.

"That's what I thought." Shanks said as he put away his gun. "Okay, kids. Get in a line. We're walking to the Marina."

"The hell we are." Kurt said. He dug into his pocket and held out a set of keys. "I'm not going to walk to any damn Marina. We're taking my truck."

"All right!" Kyler shouted. He grabbed Maura's hand and ran out the door. Johnny and Victoria did the same thing. Kurt and Elie simply began to walk out the door with Shanks following them.

Shanks was led to the parking lot of the school, in front of a weird cart that had a covered up driver's seat but an empty back. The cart's red paint was chipping and there were dents in it. Already seated in the back were Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria. Elie climbed in the passenger seat of Kurt's "truck" while Kurt climbed into the other door. Shanks was about to climb in after Elie, when Kurt commanded him to go to the back. At first Shanks began to ignore the command, but stopped when both Kurt and Elie reached into what looked like little holders, pulled out handguns, and pointed both at Shanks.

Shanks rolled his eyes and headed to the back of the truck. He grabbed a hand from Victoria and climbed up to the back. Kyler and Johnny closed the little half-door of the truck and took seats on boxes on the sides of the truck: Kyler on the left side next to Maura and Johnny on the right side next to Victoria. One box was left and that was at the opposite end, leaning against the covered part of the truck.

"You better buckle up." Victoria advised Shanks, pointing to a belt next to him that was connected to the truck.

"Why?" Shanks asked.

"When it happens, you'll know." Victoria admitted.

Something about what she said made Shanks feel like this was not going to be a safe ride like he had hoped it would be. He hoped that this trip would be like riding on the bus, calm and slow, but now his hopes were crushed. Shanks grabbed the belt and tied it around him.

"Okay, we're ready!" Johnny shouted.

The truck started moving. At first it was slow as it backed out of its parking space and ventured through the lot where the other cars and trucks were. The truck was moving slowly down the street in front of the school.

"I don't see why you said that I should buckle up. He seems pretty safe." Shanks told Victoria. Had he known what would happen five seconds later, he wouldn't have said anything.

Exactly five seconds after Shanks' comment, the truck began to accelerate quickly. It zoomed down the roads at 60 miles per hour and hardly slowed down when it went around corners. Every speedbump, loose rock, and little branch was felt from under the truck as it sped. That wasn't all that was felt, though. The wind whipped at the faces of those in the back and they all moved at every sharp turn that was made. Strangely enough, Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria were laughing and looked like they were having the time of their lives. They weren't the least bit scared.

The smell of the Marina came only a few minutes later. The car suddenly came to a stop and because of that, Shanks' head banged against the back of the covered part of the truck. "Ah! What the hell?!" Shanks yelled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We're at the marina." Johnny answered. He began to unbuckle along with Victoria, Kyler, and Maura. Shanks unbuckled the belt, too and climbed out the back when Kyler and Johnny opened the half-door.

"Okay, so where are we supposed to go?" Kurt asked Shanks as soon as he and Elie got out of the covered part of the truck.

"Follow me." Shanks ordered as he turned to the left and headed to down the docks to where the pirate ship was anchored.

"You live in a _boat_?" Elie asked Shanks as soon as she laid eyes on his ship.

"Actually, it's a ship and yes, I do. That's also where we're going to be for the next few hours." Shanks answered, "Now, go ahead. I want you to go ahead of me."

Although the six of his students were skeptical about what he ordered them to do, they followed his order anyway. There wasn't anything else to do. They all walked onto the quiet ship. Their footsteps made sounds as each and every one of them walked along the wood deck. No other sound except for the seagulls and the waves hitting the ship was heard.

Finally, a figure hidden in the shadows snuck up behind the group and grabbed Victoria from behind. The girl screamed in surprise and ran to the front of Johnny, clutching his shirt and shaking in fear.

The figure in the shadows ended up being no other than Yasopp himself…and he was laughing when he came out. "Damn, that's all it took to scare you? I thought you guys were complete hellraisers." he laughed.

Shanks walked onto the deck and laughed along with Yasopp, "Geez, Victoria. I thought you would have been braver than that." He turned to Yasopp and said, "Tell the others to get up here. I got work for them." Yasopp nodded and headed to the inside of the ship.

Not more than a minute later, the partially large crew that was still around stood on top of the deck in front of their captain and six kids. "Kids, meet my partners. They will be here to teach you things you have never known before. They are also going to be torturing you if you don't pay attention to what they say, so don't be little bastards." Shanks told the six kids. He turned to his crew and said, "Okay, guys. Take whichever one you want."

Ben turned his head towards Maura and looked her over. She looked like the type that could get scared easily. "You, girlie. What's your name." he asked Maura before taking a puff of the cigarette in his mouth.

Maura pulled out her own cigarette, lit it, and said, "Maura."

Ben smirked and said, "Well Maura. Come with me and feel my torture." Maura rolled her eyes and followed him to the other side of the ship.

Yasopp was beginning to head towards Victoria so he could scare her more than he already had, but he was stopped when Shanks gave him another order.

"Yasopp I want you to look after Kurt here." Shanks ordered Yasopp, pointing at Kurt, who had the emotionless look on his face.

Yasopp nodded at the order and motioned for Kurt to follow him. The boy didn't move. The only time he moved was when Yasopp took out his own gun and aimed it at Kurt. Kurt aimed his own gun at Yasopp. Yasopp let out a laugh as he said, "Boy, I would think twice if I was you. I can shoot seven bullets before you even get one out and I guarantee that I will hit your head each and every time." Kurt still did not move.

As a little warning, Yasopp took out his gun and shot two bullets aimed for Kurt's head. Both missed, but got dangerously close to the boy's ears. "Now let's go." Yasopp ordered. Kurt finally listened to him and followed him to the back of the ship where Maura and Ben headed.

"Hey Kaito, I want you to our healer, Elie." Shanks ordered the crew's doctor.

"Ah, the thirteen-year-old?" the tanned doctor asked standing in front of Elie.

"I'm fifteen." Elie answered emotionlessly.

Kaito did not look convinced, "Really? Well, then Miss Fifteen-year-old, you're going to be my assistant since you stole the medicines I lent to Shanks." Before Elie could react, Kaito grabbed her hand with a strong grip and drug her into the ship, in the storage area.

Only Johnny, Victoria, and Kyler were left to be chosen. The next victim of those three was Johnny and the one that took him was Olivier, the Red Hair Pirates' carpenter. He looked like the giant of a man standing at 6'9'' tall next to 5'10'' tall Johnny. "You look like the strongest out the three leftovers. What's your name, boy?" Olivier asked Johnny.

"Johnny." Johnny simply answered.

"Well Johnny, guess what you get to do with me. You're going to working for me when we fix up this ship. Come on, let's get going." Olivier said, "Your first assignment is to pick up that toolbox over there and bring it over to the bow so we can get to work." Olivier pointed at a toolbox leaning next to the door leading to the inside of the ship.

"Drec ec ymm y pihlr uv pimmcred." Johnny muttered as he followed his order. Shanks didn't even turn to Victoria to find out the translation because honestly he didn't want to know. Chances are that whatever Johnny said in Al Bhed, it was bad.

Lucky called first dibs on Kyler before anybody else could. Kyler was just as strong as Johnny even if he didn't look like it and there was some work that needed to be done in the storage area with moving barrels of gunpowder and ammunition from one area to the next. "You, boy. What's your name?"

"Kyler." Kyler answered.

"Alright Kyler, you're going to be the ship's stockboy. Follow me." Lucky ordered. He led Kyler into the room in the storage area. Elie and Kaito were there, too and Kaito looked annoyed that they were not alone.

"Hey asshole, I'm working in here." Kaito shouted at Lucky.

"Hey, I am, too. Our stockboy needs to get to work. Take your nurse out on the deck. You'll have more space up there anyway." Lucky shouted.

"We were here first!"

"Like I give a damn. I need this area."

The shouting between both pirates kept going back and forth. They didn't even notice that Elie had left the storage area and Kyler fell asleep while leaning against the wall until a few minutes later.

"Kaito, your nurse is gone." Lucky informed Kaito.

"And your stockboy is asleep." Kaito responded back.

"Kyler, wake up!" Lucky shouted, whacking Kyler on the back of the head.

"Elie!" Kaito shouted, running out of the room while carrying the bag of medicines and herbs he planned on using and making with Elie.

Elie was standing on the right side of the ship, staring blankly into the sea. Kaito came up to her and shoved her to the ground before placing the bag on the deck in front of her. "Okay, now we're going to mix these herbs together and make medicines to replace the ones you wasted." Kaito said. Elie snorted and stood up. Kaito did, too. "Did you hear me? Sit down." he ordered.

"You can't control me." Elie said simply.

"The hell I can't. Now sit down."

"No."

Kaito raised his hand and backhanded her so hard that the girl fell on her behind. "Now, let's get to work." he told her.

Victoria was the last of the six students to be chosen and the one that wanted her was Wataru. However, he wanted her for a different reason than Shanks thought he wanted her. Shanks assumed that since Victoria was an artist, then he would use her to help with his maps, but Wataru had a different idea. "And you are?" Wataru asked.

"Victoria Marxus." Victoria answered timidly.

"Alright then, Victoria. Our lounge and kitchen are filthy and since you are the only girl left, you will be the one to clean them." Wataru ordered. Victoria nodded obediently and followed Wataru to the lounge of the ship.

Wataru wasn't lying when he said that the lounge was filthy. The floor was dirty with muddy boot-prints. The counters were heavily covered in dust. Mugs were the quarter of a way filled with alcohol and rested on the table and stools. Books were on the floor. Barrels were tipped over everywhere.

The kitchen was worse. If dirty dishes weren't covering the counters, Victoria would not have even known that this kitchen even had them. The sink was also full of dirty dishes. The floor was just as filthy as the floor in the lounge. Rotting fruit was in a bowl on the kitchen table with flies surrounding it.

"Oh, Victoria? You know how to cook?" Wataru called from the lounge.

"Yes, a little." Victoria called back.

"Good, then you'll also be cooking lunch for the rest of the crew so get to work." Wataru called to her.

Victoria groaned and headed over to the sink. If cooking and cleaning were the forms of torture for her, then Shanks and his crew succeeded. Cooking and cleaning was something she, in a way, did not like doing. She was an organized person, but nobody ever noticed it and her family, who forced her to clean the house and cook and baby-sit for her three younger siblings and her older brother, always told her that she never cleaned well enough no matter how hard she tried. Her organized nature was just another one of her "no special qualities".

At first, she didn't even want to get near the dirty dishes. A fuzzy type of mold was on some of the plates and she could swear that she saw some of the mold move. Victoria let out a whimper before turning on the faucet of the sink. She squirted some soap onto the plate and began to scrub it down with a sponge. The whole hour and a half long experience with scrubbing the dishes was horrible for her. It was just as bad when she had to take the mugs from the lounge and scrub them down. The alcohol from the mugs was so strong that her nose began to hurt. Thankfully, after the mugs were scrubbed and put back in the cupboards, the smell began to cease.

The rest of the kitchen wasn't all that hard. All she had to do was get rid of the rotting fruit on the kitchen table, and wash the kitchen counters and table with the sponge she used to wash the dishes before she had to move to mopping the floor. A plastic bag was found in a cupboard under the sink and, while letting out a little moan, the girl tipped the bowl over. All the fruit fell into the bag with the flies following it. Victoria held her nose as the walked out the door onto the deck and placed the bag on the top of the deck before heading back into the kitchen to finish her work. A mop was leaning next to the door along with a pail. The pail was full of soapy water before Victoria got around to mopping the floor.

The kitchen floor was cleaned in probably about a half hour. Now it was time for her to get to work with the lounge. Before working on the floor, Victoria took the sponge she used to clean the dishes and the kitchen counters and began to scrub the lounge's filthy counters. It took about as long as it did for her to mop the kitchen floor and by the time she was finished, the sponge was black with dust but at least she was done.

Before Victoria brought the mop and pail into the lounge, she proceeded to place the books that lay on the floor back to their spots on the shelves. Once finished, she went to turn back the barrels, which were thankfully empty and didn't weigh very much and finish the mopping. As Victoria scrubbed the floor of the lounge, she noticed that Wataru was not doing anything to help her out nor was he making her job any harder. In fact, he wasn't even watching her while she worked. He was just sitting in a chair, hunched over the table, drawing something with a map at the edge of the table. A few glances were switched from the paper to the map.

Another hour or so passed and Victoria was finally finished with the lounge floor. After putting the mop and pail back into the kitchen, she sat down at the table next to Wataru. "That map is out-dated." She said.

Wataru stopped and looked at her, "What did you say?"

"You got that map from the library right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well it's not 2006 anymore. It's 2007 and Mrs. Philips, the librarian hasn't updated her maps yet. Some of the roads on this map have been demolished and some of the names have also changed. Seven of these shops and restaurants don't even exist anymore." Victoria explained.

Wataru clutched a handful of his blue hair and groaned, "Well, that's just great. Can you draw?" Victoria nodded. "Good, update this map for me since you know all about it."

Victoria shook her head and for once refused to do what she was ordered. "I have to get to cooking lunch, but I'll do something to help you." Without any other warning, she grabbed the out-dated map and a pen and began to make marks. She x-ed out the streets that were demolished and made words and arrows for the buildings and streets that had their names changed. If there were houses on the demolished streets, she drew houses and if there were fields or golf courses, she either put the word "field" or made a golf ball drawing. "All you have to do is copy this and you'll have your updated map." Victoria explained before heading towards the kitchen again to get started on lunch.

The fridge was open and Victoria took a look inside. "Hmmm…they got a few pounds of ground beef, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, and pickles." She muttered. She opened the cupboard and found some buns and onions. "Okay, now I know what to make for lunch." Victoria said.

The kitchen door opened as soon as a large skillet was placed on the stove's front burner. Two average sized patties of the ground beef was dropped in and began to sizzle as they cooked. A deep and hardly familiar voice came from behind Victoria, "So, first he made you clean the lounge and kitchen and now he's making you cook?"

Victoria turned her head just enough to see Shanks while still watching the cooking meat to make sure it didn't burn. "It's all right. I'm used to cooking and cleaning. It's my job at home to cook and clean for my little brothers and sister. My mother and father believe that if I do housework, then I'll be able to do something in my life because I don't have any special qualities." Victoria explained. She placed another skillet on a second burner and put more patties on the skillet in order to get more meat cooked faster.

"You seem like the most normal one in the class."

"Well, Johnny's about as normal as I am. He just thinks differently. Kyler's normal, too. He just likes to have fun and party like all the other boys in the high school. I don't know about Kurt and Elie, though."

"What about Maura? You seem to be friends with her."

"She's my best friend. She's not exactly normal, but she's the good type of weird." Victoria explained. She did not explain the fact that she was in fact jealous of her best friend. She was the opposite of Maura. While her best friend was brave and fiery, she was timid and often over-looked. Victoria turned over the browning meat as she continued her conversation with her teacher. Occasionally, she went to the vegetables and began slicing them onto plates.

"So, what's on the menu for lunch?" Shanks asked the timid girl.

"It's an island delicacy. We call them cheeseburgers." Victoria explained. Okay, so cheeseburgers weren't an island delicacy. Everybody who lived on the island or even in the whole country knew what they were, but Shanks didn't seem to know that.

A surprised look found its way upon his face. "Sounds good." Shanks told her, "I never heard of them before."

Another flip of the two patties on the first skillet and they looked perfectly done. Quickly, Victoria opened up two buns and placed the patties on the bottom part. A slice of cheese was placed upon the patty along with a slice of tomato, some pickles, and two slices of onions before being topped by the top half. Two more patties were placed upon the first skillet for them to be cooked. The whole process was repeated again and again until it was close to a half hour later and twenty-six cheeseburgers were piled in a pyramid shape on a large plate.

"Hey, is that lunch?" Kyler asked from the doorway to the kitchen. His arms were aching from lifting the heavy barrels and ammo around the storage area, but hope filled his eyes when he saw the pyramid.

"Yup. We're having burgers for lunch." Victoria answered.

Kyler jumped and punched the air. "All right!" he shouted. He ran out to the deck and called, "Yo, guys! Lunch is ready!"

From the inside of the ship, it sounded like things were being dropped on the wooden deck. Footsteps…loud footsteps echoed as they walked—or more like stomped towards the entrance to the inside and before anybody knew it, the whole inside was filled with twenty six people waiting for their lunch.

Kyler, Maura, Johnny, Kurt, and Elie were the first to grab a burger and as they each grabbed one, Victoria got a closer look at them. Kyler still looked a little tired, though not as much as he did before. Maura didn't have her cigarette in her fingers but otherwise looked fine. Kurt's gun was put away. Elie didn't look any different than she did earlier that morning. Johnny's forehead was covered in sweat and his hand was bandaged up.

"Johnny, what happened?" Victoria asked.

Olivier decided to answer for him, "Genius here wasn't watching what he was doing and ended up hammering a nail in his hand. Luckily, he didn't get any bones or major organs."

Shanks couldn't help but to laugh at Johnny. After looking at the way Johnny was acting with the radio, he seemed like the type that was born to fix things and would not get injured from it. He was wrong and this proved it. After his laughing, he remembered that the day before, he made a promise to present them with rum that was filled with flavors that not even Elie had heard about, but before that…

"Hey, what's in that treasure chest up there?" Kyler asked, pointing at a treasure box sitting on the fourth row on a shelf.

No thought was made as Lucky reached up for the chest and with his large hands, opened up the box. Laying inside was what looked like a purple-ish pineapple. The entire fruit, even what looked like the leaves, were purple. There were also some little swirls on the sides of the purple pineapple.

"What's that?" Victoria asked.

"It's a Devil Fruit. It's very valuable, worth billions of berries if we sell it." Lucky explained.

From her spot on a barrel around the table, Elie's eyes widened. If Lucky had not said the words "if we sell it", she wouldn't have even known that berries was another word for money or dollars. Billions of dollars could help her with something that she really wanted and couldn't afford to get. The second he finished explaining it, Elie knew that she had to have the fruit and in order to get it, she would have to resort to stealing. The box was closed and placed back on its spot and a barrel filled with rum was opened. Mugs and mugs were filled with the rum and passed around. Everybody except for Maura took a sip. She had two reasons for that: she would not drink anything that she had no clue was in it and she preferred smoking over drinking.

Elie's nose wrinkled as she tasted the alcohol that was in her mug. Some of the juices she was able to pick out: apples, cherries, and a tiny bit of orange. There was rum in there, too, but there was something about it that made the rum taste…strange. Spicy yet a little sour, too. She had to admit, though, she didn't hate the drink. Kyler and Kurt looked like they enjoyed it, too. In fact, they asked for refills, but due to the underage of the two and the fact that Kurt had to drive everyone back to the school, they were denied their demands and since there were more pirates than there were students, Kurt and Kyler didn't dare fight them in order to get refills. Johnny and Victoria didn't care for the rum. In fact, Johnny didn't even like the taste of it. Those two didn't take more than a few sips of the rum.

Nobody moved from their spots as they sat down talking amongst each other, drinking the unknown rum, and smoking cigarettes. Nobody was even paying attention to the treasure box. Nobody, that is, except for Elie. It was now her chance to take the fruit without anybody else seeing. She crept through the room of pirates and kids and made it to the box without being seen. As quickly and quietly as she could, Elie opened the box, grabbed the fruit, and put it in her school bag she carried before making it back to her original seat.

An hour passed before Shanks announced to the six that came with him that it was time to head back to the school. Thankfully, this time Victoria wasn't forced to clean up after the pirates when lunch was through. None of the six kids said a "thank you" or a "good-bye" when they left, but that was okay. The rest of the crew didn't give them a "good-bye" either.

No orders were made from Kurt for everybody but Elie to get in the back of Kurt's truck. They all just climbed into the back and buckled up. Without anybody saying anything else, Kurt slammed on the gas of his truck and began to head quickly back to the high school.

A nervous feeling overtook the bodies of the remaining Red Hair Pirates that were still on the ship. The nervous feeling was telling them that something of theirs, something very valuable was gone.

In order to see if their suspicions were correct, Ben decided to investigate. He had a feeling that if something was missing, it would most likely be the Devil Fruit Lucky showed the class earlier. They hadn't felt that feeling at all until the fruit was displayed. His hands found their way to the chest and slowly, he opened up the treasure chest. It was completely empty. One of those kids had indeed stolen the Devil Fruit.

Ben broke into a run as he made his way to the deck holding the empty chest. "THE KAZE KAZE NO MI HAS BEEN STOLEN!!!" He screamed.

00000000000

A/N: Okay, that's chapter six. Yes, that means that Elie has stolen something else belonging to Shanks or his crew, but I have a good idea of what I'm going to do with the fruit. I know I did not explain what happened to every student while they were "tortured", but I'll explain what happened to the others. Also, I plan on explaining why Kurt started driving slow in the later chapter, but I'll explain now anyway: where I live, if you drive in a school zone, you have to go 20 miles per hour before you can speed up so I did that in the story, too. Kurt was driving in a school zone.

The type of fruit I chose might have already been used in _One Piece_, but oh well. I'll just use it again. Oh, and here's the translation for Johnny's Al Bhed translation:

Drec ec ymm y pihlr uv pimmcred - this is all a bunch of bullshit


	7. The Truth About Elie

Ch. 7- The Truth About Elie

The ride in the back of Kurt's truck was just as rough and wild as it was on the way to the marina. Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria hadn't said anything on the ride back and neither had Shanks. Kurt and Elie, who were once again in the covered part of the truck, were having a conversation between themselves.

Although there was a window in the back of the covered area that Shanks could see through, it was closed and not a sound was heard. He saw the mouths of the two moving. Elie pointed at her school bag and earned a high-five from Kurt. Something told Shanks that she had something in there, but he didn't know what.

Not one of the six students needed to be ordered to go back to class when the truck was parked in its original spot back in the school's parking lot. They all just hopped out of their seats and made their own way back to the classroom without being ordered. Despite the fact that they didn't say why they went without being ordered, Shanks was pleased. Perhaps the trip to the ship was a good idea. It seemed to get the others quieter without immediately attempting to hurt him.

He was not far behind the students and before he made it to the door, he heard a little thump and something, a bag, fall to the ground. He heard Kyler say, "Whoa, you okay, Elie?" and Elie respond, "Leave me alone. Don't touch me." By the time Shanks got up there, he saw Elie lifting herself up off the ground and pick up her school bag. Kyler was withdrawing his hand from her shoulder. Before he could say anything, a loud bell rang.

"Woo-hoo! School's over!" Kyler shouted. He and the rest of the students picked up their bags and headed out the door.

"Elie, come here." Shanks ordered Elie.

Elie stared at him, but still obeyed him. She walked over to him and asked in an emotionless voice, "What do you want?"

"Did you take something from the ship?" Shanks asked.

Elie shook her head, "No, I didn't."

Somehow, Shanks wasn't convinced. "Open your bag." He ordered.

"I…can't. I have to get home." Elie said quickly before running out the door. Shanks attempted to run after her, but she was gone. In fact, everyone in his class was. He sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. It was the end of the day and he wanted to get back home. He grabbed his money from the office and headed back to the ship.

**TEN MINUTES LATER**

"What do you mean the Kaze Kaze no Mi has been stolen!" Shanks roared at the rest of his crew.

"I mean one of your kids stole the Kaze Kaze no Mi from us." Lucky answered. In his large hands was the empty chest that once held the Devil Fruit that was just recently stolen.

Okay, now Shanks was pissed. He knew which student stole from his crew and since this was a valuable item, he would make sure that the thief would not get away with it. "I'm going to kill her!" Shanks shouted. Without saying anything else, he stomped off the ship and away from the marina.

Shanks was seeing red as he stomped towards the suspected thief's house. He put up with so much crap that Elie threw at him, but this was the last straw. Stealing from a pirate often led to injury or even death and this was going to be no exception even if she was a fifteen-year-old girl. His fists clenched as he pounded upon the door of Elie's apartment. No answer came. "ELIE! OPEN THIS DOOR!" Shanks shouted through the door.

The door opened and Elie stood in the doorway. Her bag was nowhere in sight. "What do you want?" Elie asked boredly.

"I want our fruit back." Shanks said angrily.

"I don't have your fruit." Elie said.

"Elie, I'm not kidding. Give me back the fruit." Shanks ordered.

"I told you before, I don't have your fruit. Now go away." Elie said from the inside of her apartment. She began to close the door.

Shanks caught the door with his hand before it closed. "Give me back the fruit, Elin!" he screamed at the girl.

"Go away. I don't' have anything of yours!" Elie shouted, "Now let go of the door!"

Shanks refused to let this girl win. He let her win too many times already and would not let her win this time. He shoved open the door and shoved Elie back a few feet as he stepped into the apartment.

"Get out of my apartment!" Elie screamed.

"Not until I get my fruit. I know you stole it." Shanks growled.

Elie smirked, "And what if I did? What are you going to do? Hit me? Beat me? Kill me?" She began to laugh.

Shanks slammed the door behind him and did something that caught Elie by surprise. His one hand wrapped around her small neck and he lifted her up off of the ground several inches. "WHERE IS THE FRUIT!" Shanks shouted.

Elie struggled to free herself from his grasp. The hand that was wrapped around her neck was beginning to cut off her windpipe. She was having problems breathing and no matter how hard and fast her arms and legs moved, hit, and kicked, the man would not let go of her. "c-c-can't…" she managed to get out with everything else coming out in gasps.

"WHERE IS IT!" Shanks shouted. Although he was looking right at her face, he was so angry that he failed to notice that Elie's face was starting to turn red due to the lack of air. All he wanted was to hear Elie say where she had the fruit. He didn't even notice that he was preventing her from actually admitting where.

Elie's struggling got weaker and weaker before she finally stopped all together. She grabbed Shanks' arm and cried weakly, "Please…"

Drops of water fell onto Shanks' wrist from the girl in his grasp. It was then that Shanks began to notice what he was doing to her. The drops of water came from Elie. She was crying and here he was choking her while her face starting to turn a pale blue color. He released his grasp and she fell to the ground, onto her knees, coughing and trying to get her air back. Without looking at him, Elie pointed down the hallway and kept on coughing on her knees.

Shanks ran down the hallway. There were three doors that were open: one was a bathroom and the other two were bedrooms. One bedroom was full of beer cans and a king-sized bed. The other was only filled with a dresser, a cot with a pillow and blanket on it, and a purple school bag on the floor…Elie's bag. She kept the bag in her room.

Without thinking, Shanks opened the bag and tipped it upside down. All the items inside fell to the ground. A notebook, pens, pencils, a book with the title _Rurouni Kenshin_, and a wallet. The fruit was not in there. In fact, this didn't even seem like what Elie had. He expected Elie to have a gun and a weapon in there along with medicines. Shanks opened up the wallet and found money and a card that belonged to Victoria. It was either Elie accidentally grabbed Victoria's bag when she fell or she purposely took Victoria's bag. He chose to ignore the latter as he knew that Elie wanted the fruit and she wouldn't steal it then switch it again to lose the fruit.

Shanks dropped the wallet and headed out of the room. Elie was now on her feet, but was still coughing and catching her breath. "Elie, I…" Shanks started.

Elie pointed at the exit of the apartment. "Get out." She commanded. Shanks didn't argue with her. He already got her to surrender earlier when he began choking her. He walked out the door and headed to the ship.

"Did you get the Kaze Kaze no Mi?" Ben asked as soon as Shanks came up to the ship.

Shanks shook his head, "No, but I almost killed the thief. Elie took it and I almost killed her." He explained everything to the crew: how Elie refused to let him in, how he began to choke her without even knowing it, and how he found Victoria's bag inside Elie's empty bedroom. As he explained the situation, a deep feeling of guilt filled his body. She was a fifteen-year-old kid and he never expected to do something like what he had done…especially since she was defenseless at the time. He thought of her crying face as he told the story and even after he was done. She looked so weak and helpless, so much different than she had been before.

"So, you're saying that Victoria has the Kaze Kaze no Mi?" Wataru asked. Shanks nodded. "Well, aren't you going to go get it from her?"

Shanks shook his head, "I may not know Victoria as well as I know you guys, but I have a feeling that nothing will happen to it in her possession. She seems like the careful type that wouldn't let anything happen to something that wasn't hers. She'll probably return it to school tomorrow."

"You're sure about that?" Yasopp asked.

Shanks nodded, "Yeah. Now, if it were one of the guys or Maura then I would feel concerned. Don't worry about it." He decided that he wanted to change the subject for a while, "So, you guys think Saiyoru's going to be coming back late?"

In the three days since Saiyoru started working, he came home later than before. Apparently it happened on his first day of work when, during the lunch break, a few of the other cooks took him to a what was called a "karaoke bar". He liked going there so much that after work he went back and met up with this young waitress given the name "Angel Face" who danced and sang at work…and she was really good. He didn't know her real name, but for the past three days, he went back to that bar to see her and always came back two hours after he left his work. The crew often made fun of him for his little crush on a girl he didn't even know and couldn't talk to. In a way it was funny, but in another way it really wasn't, but it was still fun to make fun of him and guess if he was going to come back late.

"Definitely. He's probably waiting for his singing and dancing waitress. He'll probably be back around sunset." Olivier said, laughing. The rest of the crew joined him in a cheap laugh.

His prediction was correct. The sun was just starting to set when Saiyoru came home. Dinner was cooked late for an annoyed crew by an equally annoyed Saiyoru, who did not like the fact that most of the bread, beef, and vegetables were gone due to lunch cooked by someone he didn't know. The crew was finished eating by the time it was 10pm, when it was dark outside.

After he was finished eating, Shanks noticed that he was missing something of his that was very important to him. His gun was not at his side and what was worse was that for a few moments, he couldn't remember where he last put it. Finally, he could remember. It was left on top of his desk back at the school. "Fuck. I left my gun at the school." He half shouted.

"So? Get it tomorrow when you have to head off to work." Ben told him.

Shanks shook his head, "The kids are always there before I am. I know that if I don't get it now, then Kurt and Elie will take it. I'm especially sure that Elie will take it first as revenge for what I did to her earlier." He said nothing else but walked off the ship and back to Morning Glory High.

The lights to the school were off and it seemed like the school would have been locked for the night to avoid thieves. It wasn't. In fact, when he placed his hand on the front door, it opened. Somebody was in there and he didn't really care who was there. All he wanted to do was go to the top floor, find his gun, and get out.

The inside of the school, changed his world to black. He could see nothing and he could hear nothing but he knew that something or someone was in the school. His one hand was put in front of him so he could feel what was around him, so he could find a light switch, a door, or even the staircases.

No light switches were found, but the staircase was and with careful steps, he made it up the top floor. With his arm as a guide, Shanks was able to make it to a door that was partially open. The door made a creaking sound as he opened it. His hand found the light switch next to the door and with one quick movement, flipped the switch up and turned on the lights in the room.

The gun was still safely on top of the desk where Shanks last left it. A feeling of relief filled his body as he picked up the gun. A suspicious feeling quickly replaced the relief. The door was open and unlocked. Someone had to be in there, but who? A shuffling sound from the side of the room answered his question.

Shanks quickly turned towards the sound and found himself staring at the body of a person laying on the large table leaning against the wall. He could not see the face of the person because of the angle the head was pointed at and the brown hair covering the rest, but he knew the person was a kid. He also knew that the person was a girl, but that was only because he managed to take a look at the chest and saw that the development of the chest was coming in nicely for some one the size of the kid. The kid was silent and the extremely thin body was moving with each and every breath taken. She was asleep.

While wanting to see if the kid was okay, Shanks moved to the girl and softly shook her shoulder. The girl let out a soft moan and turned over. Her blue-green eyes opened and she asked in a tired yawn, "What do you want?"

"What are you doing here at school, Elie? It's dark outside." Shanks asked the girl.

"Look, just leave me alone and let me sleep. You already got close to killing me in my house, so the least you could do is leave me alone." A tired Elie asked.

"Okay, you know what? I'm sorry about what I did in your apartment, but you've been treating me like crap ever since I first set foot in this school. I want to know what's going on. You're hiding something from me and I want to know what it is." Shanks shouted.

Elie moaned and sat up. Shanks wasn't going to leave her alone and she could see that. She had to tell him something. "I knew that someday I was going to end up being choked until I was close to dying. I just didn't think that you were going to be the one to do it. I thought it would have been _him_." She said softly.

"Who?" Shanks asked. Although he didn't show it, he was happy that Elie was finally telling him something about herself.

"Nobody. Don't worry about it." Elie said quickly.

"This _him_, as you said. He's the one that hits you and gives you bruises, right? The one that turned you into an emotionless bully." Shanks asked. Elie didn't say anything. Time for Shanks to make an accusation at who this him was. "And it's Kurt that's doing it."

Elie no longer looked emotionless like she had before. Now she looked mad. Her fists clenched and her eyebrows twitched. "Don't you _ever_ say that about Kurt again. My cousin would never do something like that to me. If you ever say that again, I will make sure that you will go through more Hell than I ever put you through!" Elie shouted.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Elie." Shanks apologized to the angry girl. "Now, since you won't tell me who has been doing this to you, I want you to tell me what you planned on doing with my fruit. Don't lie to me, Elie. If you lie to me, I'll bring you right back to my ship and make you face the torture again."

Elie snorted, "Fine. I was going to sell it."

"And that involved Kurt because…?"

"God, you want to know everything don't you. Well, fine. Kurt is turning eighteen in a month and after he turns eighteen, he's going to take me and leave this island so I could be away from Nick. We just needed a little bit of money to help us out." Elie burst.

"Okay, now I think I get what's going on now." Shanks told her. It wasn't a lie. Because of the last thing that Elie told him, it was clear that she was being beaten, abused at her home and by her own father. He was surprised he didn't see it earlier when he went to her house for the first time after seeing all the beer cans, meeting the man that had to look at a birth certificate just to know his own daughter's name, and hearing the dull thump from Elie's room after Nick went in to get Shanks' gun. He couldn't believe that he never even thought about it when he saw Elie and Kurt come back to school with bruises all over their bodies but the realization came to him. Elie was definitely being abused and it was a large possibility that Kurt was, too.

"I'm going back to bed." Elie yawned. She lay back down upon the table and curled up into a little ball. She shivered a little because of the temperature in her room.

Shanks felt sorry for the girl. The first time he met her, she slammed him into a door just because he placed a hand on her shoulder. Then another time she almost got him with a dagger and then she caused him pain by punching him in the stomach and pouring iodine in his wounds. He hated her in the beginning, thinking that she was just a bad kid right from the beginning, a little rebel but now he knew better. She was afraid…afraid of her own father and to show her fear, she was hiding out in the school just to sleep while the heat was shut off. He felt like he had to do something for her at this little moment, seeing her in such a state, and he had an idea.

The captain walked to the closet and opened up the door. Inside was the white lab coat he had taken after his clothes got stolen. He grabbed it in his hands and called, "How many times do you come here?" Elie gave him an answer from the table but due to the distance between the closet and the table, Shanks was unable to decipher what she was saying to him. As he walked closer to the girl he asked, "Say that again."

"Whenever I have to." Elie mumbled.

Shanks nodded and covered her curled up body with the white lab coat in order to give some warmth to the freezing girl. "Next time you sleep here, grab the lab coat in the closet. At least it will help you from being cold." Shanks told her. Whether Elie said something back to him or not, Shanks could not tell, but he had a feeling she was grateful for the new warmth bestowed upon her. He walked back to the door with his gun in his hands.

Before switching off the light switch, Shanks turned back to Elie. She was no longer shivering and she had a pleasant look on her face, one that showed that she would most likely be having good dreams that night. "Oh, and thanks for not taking my gun." He told her before shutting off the light switch. He did not wait for her to give a response back. All he did was shut the door and, with the help of his one hand, guided himself out the entrance of the school and back to the Marina.

"You got your gun back?" Yasopp asked his captain as soon as he stepped foot back on the ship.

Shanks nodded, "Yeah. And I also found Elie sleeping on one of the tables in the room. I also found out something else about her."

"You found out that she gets beaten a lot?" Kaito asked.

Shanks looked at him in surprise, "She told you that?" It was surprising. Elie never even gotten close to telling Shanks about what really happened until just that night even though they'd known each other for three days already. She hadn't even known Kaito for a whole day and it seemed like he already knew about what was going on with her.

Kaito shook his head, "No, she didn't tell me. I'm a doctor and I've seen beatings before. Some of those bruises are at least a few months old."

"Didn't you ask her about them?" Shanks asked Kaito, "I mean, you knew that she was getting hit because of her bruises, so didn't you ask her?"

"Sure I asked her. All she told me was that it was none of my business what happened to her and refused to tell me anything." Kaito admitted, "She's a pretty good chemist, though. She seemed to have fun making medicines. The weirdest thing is that she took a few of them back with her: some sleeping medicines, some minor wound healing medicines, and some vigor medicine."

"And you let her take those from our ship?" Wataru asked.

Kaito shrugged, "She made them out of left-over herbs so I just figured, 'what the hell. She already replaced the other medicines she wasted.'"

It was official. Kaito knew about the beatings before Shanks had and had not Shanks forced Elie to tell him the truth, he would not have known at all. She wouldn't tell anybody if she wasn't forced or even if she had not been hit or nearly killed by somebody else who was angry with her.

"I'm going to bed. I got work tomorrow and I guess I have to go and teach my kids something." Shanks told his crew. After getting an "Aye captain", he headed off to his quarters and fell asleep in the messy bed that belonged to him. As he slipped away into dreamland, he thought about what he was going to be doing tomorrow with his class in hopes that the next day would be better.

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The morning sun that reflected from the sun onto the red-haired captain's face was the wake up call that was given the next day. It was an unwanted wake up call…mostly because the sunlight came in and blinded him momentarily. Even loud church bells, stomps from the next room, or the loud sirens of "police cars" would have been a better wake up call. The worst thing he would end up with would be a tiny headache that one of Kaito's medicines could easily cure.

Saiyoru cooked breakfast like the crew as he normally had, this time with eggs, sausage, coffee, and orange juice but Shanks wasn't talking much. He had a train of thoughts going in his head and he didn't want to lose it by talking to the rest of the crew. He didn't even eat very much of the breakfast, much to Saiyoru's anger. All he ate was a few bites of the scrambled eggs on his plate and he only drank about two sips of black coffee before heading towards the door to go back to work.

"Captain! Don't forget to bring back the Kaze Kaze no Mi!" Lucky called from inside the kitchen, back in his seat while wolfing down the sausage on his plate.

"It's no problem. I'll bring it back." Shanks promised before leaving. Before he left, he made sure that he was being careful with what he brought. He did not bring any more of Kaito's medicines to avoid Elie wasting them again for pain. He also did not bring anything else but his gun to avoid the others stealing everything but his clothes from him. His gun was still with him, but it was only to be used to scare off the other students, namely Kurt and Elie and probably Kyler and Maura and he was going to make sure this time that it would not get stolen or left behind.

_Morning Glory High_ was louder than ever today and Shanks did not know why. He didn't see any of his students, not even Lynn, standing with the others. He also didn't hear the announcer with Johnny pretending to be Manson going off. It was weird to him. He wasn't told of any special things planned for today, so why was everyone being so loud and acting extremely happy? He wouldn't find out until later.

Before heading off to his class, he remembered that he had to be teaching them something, reading preferably and so far the class did not like the book they were reading so far. Perhaps there was an easier, more interesting book for them to read. His next stop: the library.

The head librarian was gone at the moment and in her place, behind a desk was a young girl of about sixteen or seventeen with long, braided black hair, tanned skin, and black eyes. "Can I help you?" the girl behind the counter asked.

Shanks looked at the little nametag located just above the girl's left breast, "Hey Wendy, can you tell me the easiest books you have in this library that aren't for the special ed kids?"

The girl, Wendy, walked to a nearby cart covered with books and took four off. "Pick whichever one you want." she told him.

Shanks picked up the first book, one that had about a hundred or so pages in it with the head of a boy in the desert. At the top was the title _Holes_. He turned the back over and took a look at the description that was given. _Okay, so this is a book about some kid that has to dig holes._ He put that book down and looked at the next book over.

On the second cover was a picture of a girl standing by a tree with a cat sitting in it with a creepy smile on its face. At the top were the words _Alice in Wonderland_. Like he had done with the previous book, he read the description on the back. _Okay, so some girl goes_ _to this one place and has to get back_. He put the second book down and headed to the third.

The third book was the thickest of them all, but it was the most interesting. On the cover was an old woman standing next to a weird moving thing and a scarecrow. The words at the top read _Howl's Moving Castle_. He turned the book over and looked at the description. _Okay, so some hot girl gets turned into this old lady and has to travel in this moving castle-thing to get free from her curse_. Shanks put that book down and went to the fourth and final book.

On the cover of the last book was a picture of a blonde boy and two dogs. At the top were the words _Where the Red Fern Grows_. Shanks turned the book and read the description. _A book about a boy and two dogs_. Shanks put that book back.

So far only _Howl's Moving Castle_ and _Where the Red Fern Grows_ looked the most interesting out of the four. He decided to take both books and let the rest of the class choose which one they wanted to read. He held up both books and said, "I want these two."

"And you're the teacher for the class at the top of the school?" Wendy asked. Shanks nodded. "Okay, then." She typed something on this machine in front of her called a "computer" and said, "You got both of them for as long as you need them." Shanks thanked her and walked up the flights of stairs to his classroom.

All eight of his students were in the class plus the boy in black with the big book Shanks saw on the first he began to work. The boy was standing by the chalkboard, writing something on it while not paying attention to the rest of the class. Lynn was in her seat, speaking onto her little communicator. Larry was also in his own seat, but this time he was filling out a piece of paper that had questions on it. Johnny was sitting at his desk with a little mini-computer called a "lap top". The rest of the students were crowded around him.

"I Googled in 'Devil Fruit', but all I'm getting are descriptions on some horror movies and some voodoo site." Johnny said as he typed in something on the little keys.

"Well, keep looking!" Victoria commanded.

"Yeah. I want to know how much that thing is really worth." Kurt said.

"And I want to know what it does." Maura added.

Shanks stood in front of the classroom and cleared his throat. "Okay, I want to talk to you guys about something, but first…" he turned to the boy behind him, "You! I have no clue who you are but you aren't my student so get out."

The boy walked away with his big book and said, "One day God will thank me for this." The boy left behind a message on the blackboard: **Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. **

Shanks looked at the message and then back at his class, "Anybody know what that means?" Nobody answered him. All he got was a bunch of shrugs. Nobody knew what it meant. "Okay, now I want all of you to listen to me…especially the six of you that went with me to the ship."

Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to the red-haired man standing in front of the classroom. Now it was time for Shanks to continue. "Yesterday, you were shown a Devil Fruit yesterday and now it's time you knew what the Devil Fruits were. Devil Fruits give powers depending on the type they are. You could change into an animal, make fire, use wind to fight, or anything else if you eat the fruit. That might seem like a good thing, but there is a downside. Whoever eats the fruit loses the ability to swim forever. Elie stole the Kaze Kaze no Mi, the Wind Wind Fruit, which is used to manipulate wind to fight. Her bag got switched with Victoria's yesterday when I'm guessing she tripped." Shanks turned to Victoria and asked, "Victoria, where is the Devil Fruit?"

Victoria blushed, "I…don't exactly have it anymore."

"Does somebody in this class have it?" Shanks asked.

"Yes…in a way."

"Oh no…oh god, no…please tell me that somebody didn't eat it. I want the truth here, whoever ate the Devil Fruit, if you did, raise your hand." Shanks was getting nervous. He should have told the group the downside to eating a Devil Fruit if they ate it and now it was too late. At first, nobody raised their hand and Shanks was relieved. His relief, however, was taken away only thirty seconds later when one of the six that went with him yesterday raised their hand.

"YOU ATE THE KAZE KAZE NO MI?"

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A/N: Yes, you guys were right, somebody did eat the Kaze Kaze no Mi, but who was it?

Thank you everyone for all your reviews and if you guys have any suggestions on what I should do later on in my story, send it to me in either an e-mail or a review and I just might use it. I know that some of you might be a little annoyed that I made Shanks seem a little dense about not knowing what happened to Elie, but that kinda happens a lot in real life: somebody, most a bad girl/fighter, comes to school every day with bruises and people don't think anything about them because she fights all the time. Also, I think it's the windpipe that's the part of the throat that gives out air, but I might be incorrect. If I am, let me know and I'll fix it.


	8. The Girl Who Controls the Wind

Ch. 8- The Girl Who Controls the Wind

"YOU ATE THE KAZE KAZE NO MI?!?" Shanks screamed.

Victoria slowly nodded and began to cry, "I'm so sorry. I didn't think it would do anything and it was an accident. I pulled it out of my bag and looked at it for a little while because I didn't know what it was doing in my bag. Then my little brother jumped onto my back and scared me so bad that the fruit was sort of hurled into my open mouth and I accidentally took a bite. It tasted really good, so I just finished it thinking that it wouldn't do anything. I thought you could just buy or find it anywhere."

"Well, this is just great. You ate a valuable fruit that is hard to find." Shanks groaned.

"Well, get it out of her." Johnny argued.

"I can't get it out of her! She ate the fruit and once somebody eats it, they lose the power to swim and they will never get rid of the fruit!" Shanks shouted.

"It's called 'digestion'. It should be out of her soon." Elie said from next to Kurt.

"Elie, now its time for you to learn something new about health. This fruit can't be completely digested. It stays in the body along with the powers to control the wind." Shanks admitted.

"Well, on the plus side, Victoria now has the power to fight with wind." Maura said. "Go ahead and try something out, Victoria. You got this power, you might as well use it."

"No! Don't you dare! You'll end up doing something stupid!" Shanks ordered. He turned to Victoria again with an angry look on his face, "I can't believe you! You are supposed to be the normal one in this class who never does anything stupid like eating something you know nothing about!"

"Hey! It's called an accident! She didn't mean to eat it!" Maura argued.

"You stay out of this unless you want to get into any more trouble than you're already in! Accidents are sometimes inexcusable! Maybe that's something your last teachers or even your own families should have taught you! That last part goes to everyone else in this classroom, even the ones that didn't come to the ship yesterday." By now Shanks was unable to control the tone of his voice and had no idea how loud he was getting, "I am so pissed off with all of you right now that I am actually very tempted to beat all your asses until they are black and blue like Kurt and Elie's faces! I don't care who you are or even if you didn't go on the trip yesterday!"

His rage was getting stronger and stronger. He was now close to shouting at the group in front of him. So far, only Kurt, Elie, and Larry looked unphased at the loud voice. Lynn, Johnny, and Kyler only looked slightly phased at the yelling. Maura and Victoria, on the other hand, looked scared to hell. Shanks' plan was working even though he didn't know that it was. Most of his students were getting scared at his voice and sooner or later, they would not be the little hellraisers they were when he first saw them.

"Dude…your face is matching your hair." Larry said to Shanks. "It looks cool."

"Aren't you supposed to be out of this school already?" Shanks asked with no emotion in his already angry voice.

"That's the plan. I'm only going to be here for another month or so." Larry answered.

"The end of the school year is in three and a half months. Of course you're going to be out of here." Maura answered. The faint smell of smoke was coming from behind her ear. Something was hidden behind her ear and Shanks knew what it was.

"Maura, how old are you?" the man asked the girl.

"Fifteen. Why?" Maura asked.

Shanks did not answer her, but instead grabbed a bucket from the closet and left the room. He headed down the hall to the top floor bathroom and filled the bucket two thirds of the way full with water. Once finished with the filling, he headed back to the classroom. The door was still open like he had left it, but no longer were Kurt, Elie, Maura, and Kyler crowded around Johnny and his lap top. Kurt and Elie were standing around Kurt's desk while Maura and Kyler were standing by Kyler's. Shanks gave no warning as he poured the bucket of water over the top of Maura's head.

Maura let out a little cough as the water dripped from her red hair and down her face, some of it entering her nostrils and her mouth. She looked down at her soaked clothes. Her jeans were partially soaked as were her thin blue tennis shoes. Her green T-shirt was stuck tightly to her skin. She moved her bangs from her eyes as she looked at Shanks angrily, "You…"

"Dude, what the hell?!" Kyler asked in defense of his girlfriend.

Shanks placed the bucket down and stuck his hand behind Maura's ear. When he brought his hand back three seconds later and in between his thumb and main finger was a soaked cigarette. "It seems that Ben has taught you a way to hide your cigarettes, but it won't work on me. A fifteen-year-old shouldn't be smoking and I'll be damned if I will allow someone of a young age smoking while I'm around."

"You are a complete bastard…" a pissed off Maura said to Shanks.

"And you're a little smart-ass bitch. Get used to it." Shanks responded to Maura. He turned to the rest of the class and said, "Now, if you all don't want me to do something else to piss you off, I'd suggest you all sit in your own seats…NOW!!!" He said the "NOW!!!" part louder than the rest of the sentence, causing the ones that weren't sitting to sit quickly in fear of what was happening.

"Johnny, turn off that lap top." Shanks ordered. "And Lynn, get off that communicator."

"It's called a cell phone." Lynn argued.

"I don't care. Turn it off." Shanks ordered in a voice that clearly said that he didn't give a damn what the device was called, he just wanted it off. The voice worked because both Lynn and Johnny turned off their devices.

Shanks walked to his desk and stood in front of it. "Okay, I took the time to forget about that damn Harry Potter book so we can read something a little bit more interesting. I grabbed two books from the library so pick whichever one you want. You have a choice between _Where the Red Fern Grows_ and _Howl's Moving Castle_. Any of you ever read one of them?"

Victoria timidly raised her hand, "I've read both of them. They're both good books, but the second is the more interesting one."

"Good, then it's settled. Our new book is going to be _Howl's Moving Castle_ not only because it probably really is the more interesting book, but the title is shorter. However, before we do that, it's time that I got around to teaching you something about physics. Maura, come here." Shanks ordered. Maura only gave him a hateful glare as the water rolled down her body. "Fine. If you don't, then I guess I could easily go to your brother and his wife and have them deal with you again." That got her.

As Maura walked up to Shanks, a metal plate from inside the class closet was placed into her hands. She was confused at what was placed in her hands and became even more confused when Shanks moved her hands up towards her chest so that the small plate was covering the heart of the smoker.

"And we're supposed to be doing what exactly?" Maura asked sarcastically.

"Just shut up and stand still and for the love of God, do not move." Shanks told her, whipping out his handgun and placing a bullet inside. Instantly, the others had an idea of what he was going to be doing.

"You're not going to shoot her are you?!" Victoria shouted in defense of her best friend.

"Of course not." Shanks answered. A breath of relief from Kyler and Victoria. "I'm going to shoot the metal plate in her hands."

"WHAT?!?" Victoria screamed, "Didn't you notice how small that plate is?!"

"She's going to die." Kurt added, indicating at Maura.

"She will not." Shanks simply answered.

"Yes she will. There's no way any bullet will let her get away alive even if it hits that plate." Kurt argued with the man.

"Maura won't even get injured." Shanks explained.

"She'd better not!" Kyler shouted.

"Yeah. I got work tonight." Maura added to her boyfriend's shout.

"Don't worry, Maura Beth. You'll be fine. Now stand still and don't move." Shanks raised his handgun at the metal plate in Maura's hands. "Any last words, Maura Beth?"

Maura nodded and put a ticked off look on her face, "Yeah. Don't call me Maura Beth, just call me Maura. Also, if I die, I'm coming back to haunt the hell out of you."

Shanks smirked at Maura and replied, "That's a risk I'm willing to take." He backed away from Maura until both him and the girl were six feet apart. The gun was aimed and after taking a deep breath, the trigger was pulled.

The bullet from Shanks' gun ripped through the air and hit the middle of the metal plate, in between the thin fingers of Maura Anders. The force from the bullet was strong, so strong that the girl was pushed back several feet and onto her behind, but not before her back hit the corner of Larry's desk. The bullet was, thankfully, not strong enough to kill her.

"Maura!" Victoria screamed. She ran to her best friend with Elie and Kyler behind her. Victoria let out a sigh of relief as Maura was helped onto her feet by herself and Kyler. She was even more relieved when Elie placed a hand on Maura's back and said, "No broken bones. She's okay."

"Why the hell did you shoot her?!" Kyler asked, staring at the man with invisible flames in his brown eyes.

"Yeah, Bastard." Maura added, "Why didn't you shoot Lynn? She doesn't work like I do."

"Because Lynn would have moved and if I killed or injured her, I probably would have gotten fired." Shanks explained.

"Oh boo-hoo." Maura answered, throwing the metal plate pierced with the bullet to her right.

"Ow! That hurt, you bitch!" Lynn screeched as the metal plate Maura threw hit her head.

Shanks did not yell at any of the two girls. In fact, he enjoyed what had happened between Maura and Lynn. "That, kids, signifies force and velocity. The bullet I fired at Maura was going at such a high velocity that if she wasn't protected by the plate, the force would have been so strong that she would have been seriously injured or even killed. Lynn, however, was not protected and was only slightly injured due to the fact that Maura threw the plate with weak velocity."

"You're an asshole." Maura muttered. "But at least the bitch deserved what she got."

That got Lynn angry…again. Because of that last sentence that Maura said about her, Lynn got around to flying insults at Maura. That spelled trouble. Shanks knew that even though he hardly knew both girls. He knew enough to know that Maura would retaliate soon if he didn't do something to stop her. He was too late. Both girls began screaming at each other and not more than a minute later, things—mostly pencils, pens, and make-up from Lynn—began flying.

Most of the classmates were able to dodge the items being thrown and although most tried, the throwing would not let up. Victoria was the only one that was unable to dodge Lynn's items. At first, a few ricocheted off her skin and clothes, but when books started to get thrown, that was when she began to get scared.

Victoria could not exactly explain what happened next. All she remembered was that she ate the fruit that gave her the power to control wind and she wanted to use that to protect herself even though she was ordered not to. Before she knew it, a little wind barrier protected her against the books that were being thrown. Strangely enough, that actually stopped the throwing.

"Rumo lnyb Victoria." Johnny shouted at the girl with the tornado barrier.

The barrier did not last long, probably about forty seconds at the most. Thankfully, it was not a strong barrier, only a little one that also happened to cast a little breeze in the room, ruffling loose papers laying on the floors and desks. That did no, however, mean that Shanks was not angry with what Victoria had done even if she did not mean to cast the barrier.

"Hey! I told you not to do anything with your new powers!" Shanks screamed at the eater of the Kaze Kaze no Mi.

Victoria cringed at the voice coming from the man that was supposed to be teaching her class things. It wasn't really her fault that she used the powers. She honestly thought he was kidding around when he said that she had the power to control the wind. Besides, she wasn't anything special so why would she even have powers in the first place? She didn't even know what she was doing when she did her barrier. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't even know what I was doing. It just happened." She managed to get out.

"It just happened? That's the best excuse you could come up with? I thought you would have been smarter than that, Victoria. I thought that you were the one little bastard in this room that actually had the sense to listen to something I said. I guess I was wrong." Shanks said without thinking about what he had said to the timid girl. His attention was changed as soon as he saw Kyler raise his hand. "What is it?!"

"Dude, are you related to Gordon Ramsey or something?" Kyler asked.

"Who?"

"Gordon Ramsey. You know, the guy from _Hell's Kitchen_. You're kinda acting like him."

"I don't know who this Gordon Ramsey is, so no I'm not related to him. Now stop asking stupid questions."

Victoria cringed again as she heard her teacher yelling again like the man Kyler was talking about. She hated listening to Gordon Ramsey yelling and screaming at his poor victims if they weren't quick enough with something or if they weren't perfect with what they created and had to start all over again. "Mr. Shanks!" she called. Shanks' attention was once again upon her. "I'm really sorry about what I did. I promise that I'll never ever do that again if you'll just stop screaming at us!"

Shanks walked over to Victoria and looked deep into her violet eyes. The emotion that was expressed with them admitted that she was telling the truth and wouldn't do it again. "Fine." He told her. Shanks turned to the others and said in a voice slightly softer than the one he used to yell at the other kids, "The rest of you little bastards better thank her. I could go on like this all day with you all."

The others in the room, save for Lynn, gave out a muffled, "Thank you, Victoria."

Shanks smiled at the rest, "Good. Now those of you not sitting, sit in your seats. It's time for us to be doing some reading." The ones not sitting sat in their assigned seats. Shanks walked back to his desk and picked up _Howl's Moving Castle_. "Okay, this is how it's going to work. I only have one copy of this book and I'm not going to be reading the whole thing out loud, so I'm going to give the book to each of you to pass around and read a few pages. I also want you all to pay attention because I will be asking questions at the end of our little reading-thing _and_ there will be a homework assignment graded by me. Those of you that refuse to do what I tell you will be punished."

"Well, you can't punish me. If you do, my parents will go to the school and you'll be fired." Lynn boasted.

Shanks' smile did not leave his face. "That's a risk I'm willing to take. Lynn, you may not know this but I'm not going to be leaving any time soon. I'm the only one that is willing to sit with you guys, so you're stuck with me and there's no way I'm going to be fired." It wasn't a lie. On the day Maura and Lynn fought in the cafeteria, while Sarah was explaining the thing with Lynn's parents practically running the school, he found out that nobody else would take the job but him.

The book was opened up to page one with the man's fingers on his one hand and the title of the first chapter was read out loud by him: _In_ _Which_ _Sophie Talks to Hats_. He read about two pages before stopping and handing the book to the closest one of his students: Elie. She only stared at him as the book was placed in her small hands. "Come on, Elie. I don't want to have to tell your father about you not obeying me in class." Shanks told her. That got her start.

"…So when a few months after that, a tall black castle suddenly appeared on the hills above Market Chipping…." Elie read aloud with a strange high pitch in her voice, showing her terror for what the man told her he would do if she had not obeyed him.

After ten minutes and two page turns, the book was removed from Elie's hands and handed to Kurt, who was sitting behind her. Like Elie had done earlier, the boy just stared at Shanks as the book was placed in his muscular hands. "Read." Shanks ordered. "Or I will tell your mother about this and I'm sure she'll give you the same punishment that Elie's father would give her if I told him." Also, like Elie, that got Kurt to start.

"The bootboy brought back a scribbled note from Lettie…." Kurt read emotionlessly, showing that he personally didn't give a damn about what was going on in the book. That didn't bother Shanks, though because he didn't care either. As long as the little hellraisers were obeying him, nothing else mattered.

Another ten minutes and two page turns passed before the book was removed from Kurt's hands and placed into Maura's. Maura did not need to be told to read by Shanks. She did it willingly although the reason for that was unknown. "Sophie talked to hats more and more as weeks went by. There was no one else much to talk to…."

Another ten minutes and two pages turns went by before the book was passed back to Kyler. At first the boy looked dumbly at the book in front of him. He did not look like he didn't care for reading like Kurt and Elie had, but he did look like he was having problems with something.

"Go ahead, Kyler. Read." Shanks ordered.

Kyler took a deep breath and started, "His sleeves tr…tra…" That's as far as he got before he turned the book towards Johnny and pointed at the word he did not complete.

"Trailed." Johnny told him.

"Trailed longer than any in the Square, all…uh…" Kyler continued.

"Scalloped." Victoria said.

"Scalloped edges and…" Kyler continued.

"Silver insets." Johnny and Victoria told him.

Like Maura, Elie, and Kurt, Kyler turned the pages in the book twice. Unfortunately, due to the fact that every few words Kyler had to ask Johnny, Victoria, and sometimes even Maura, how to pronounce the many he couldn't, he did not read for ten minutes. It took more like thirty-five minutes before the book was passed onto Larry.

"She was wearing Lettie's second-best blue dress, a wonderful blue that suited her perfectly…." Larry read slowly yet clearly. He turned two pages and read for seventeen minutes before Shanks took the book from him and handed it back to Johnny.

"She thought and thought, most of the following week, and all that happened was that she became confused and disoriented…." Johnny read with absolutely no difficulty and no hesitation. Of course, that did not mean that he did not sound upset about having to read out loud. Personally, the only things he liked reading were video game guides and books on computer hacking. Everything else did not interest him in the least.

Shanks forced Johnny to stop after he turned three pages and twelve minutes passed and for that, Johnny was grateful. That would be the end of him reading something that did not interest him for the rest of the day. The book was again passed to the next person and that one person was the girl who chose this book in the first place: Victoria.

"She thought about her situation, quite calmly. Everything seemed to have gone calm and remote…." Victoria read with a pleasing tone in her voice. She made sure that everyone heard her and with each dialogue that was spoken, whether the character speaking was a man or an old woman, she made the absolute perfect pitch. It seemed that all the characters she spoke as and described were coming alive with every word and sentence she spoke.

Shanks did not want her to stop, but after seeing her flip through three pages in the same time Johnny had, he decided that it was time for her to give the book to the girl sitting behind her: Lynn, so that the little brat would have a chance to read no matter how badly she didn't want to.

Lynn growled, "I can't believe you're making me do this. I'll make sure you pay for this."

"Just read, Lynn." Shanks ordered tiredly, "We're all waiting for you."

Lynn muttered something unknown, but then continued to read in a bored voice, "She collapsed onto a stone by the wayside, wondering what she would do now…." She turned one page and read for nine, almost ten, minutes before stopping. She then said, "That's the end of the chapter."

Shanks was about to tell her to continue onto the third chapter, but never quite got the chance. The bell for lunch rang. Lynn threw the book off to the side and the eight classmates ran like hell out of the top floor classroom and down to the cafeteria for lunch.

The man let out a disappointed sigh as he picked up the discarded book off the ground. He got the rest of his students to do what he ordered, but they were still being difficult. On the plus side, though, at least it seemed like they were getting better although he needed a little bit more work with Lynn, Kyler, and Maura.

Before leaving for the cafeteria, Shanks placed _Howl's Moving Castle_ back on his desk and grabbed _Where the Red Fern Grows_. The second book would be returned to the library as the class would not be reading it.

The library was on the way to the cafeteria, so that would be the first stop before he went to get something to eat. Wendy, the assistant librarian was not there when he returned the book, but the main librarian, a woman in her 40s, was there and took the book back gratefully. Shanks smiled at her and headed to the cafeteria.

Johnny, Victoria, Maura, Kyler, Elie, Kurt, and Lynn were seated in the same spots they were in the other day. They were even doing the same things they were doing the day before, talking, giggling, and eating. Their food, however, was not the same as it was two days ago. Instead, on their paper plates were a few triangle shaped foods with what looked like deep fried potatoes.

"So, what's for lunch?" Shanks asked as he walked over to Brenda the lunch lady.

"Pizza and fries. So, which pizza toppings do you want? We got cheese, pepperoni, and supreme." Brenda answered.

Shanks had to think for a moment. He'd never heard of pizza and fries before, but he liked the sound of pepperoni, so that's what he decided to choose. "Pepperoni." He answered.

Brenda smiled and handed him a little box, for which he thanked her for and left the cafeteria and headed back towards the teacher's lounge.

There were still a few empty seats at the table in the lounge so Shanks took the closest one to the end, the chair in between Manson and Sarah. In his box were two medium sized triangle shaped foods that the other kids were eating topped with melted cheese, tomato sauce, and little pepperoni slices. Also in the box was a little bag of the deep-fried potatoes, the fries and a container of cranberry juice.

Shanks ate slowly not only to savor the delicious yet salty pizza and fries, but to see if another fight would come in the lounge or the office between Lynn and Maura.

Sarah seemed to know the fighting reason for why Shanks was eating so slowly, so she explained calmly, "Don't worry. Lynn and Maura won't be coming in here fighting. Maura already has detention for another two days, so she wouldn't do anything to add on more days."

She was correct. In the twenty minutes Shanks spent eating in the teacher's lounge, not one fight between any student in the school came. It was a peaceful lunch that was not ruined. He explained to Manson and Sarah what he had done with the reading and apparently, they both found it hilarious for reasons unknown to Shanks. He considered explaining to them about Victoria and what she'd done eating the Kaze Kaze no Mi, but stopped himself. His class already thought of him as being crazy when he explained it to them, so how would the principal and vice principal be any different?

There was still plenty of time left over by the time Shanks was finished with his meal, twenty minutes at the most, so he chose to take a little walk before heading back to class. A good walk around the large high school seemed like a good idea. In fact, a few other students thought the same as they were walking around, laughing and giggling amongst each other. Some of the students he came across even smiled at him as they walked by. _Now, why can't the hellraisers be like that?_ Shanks wondered as he continued walking with a cool breeze beating against his face.

Suddenly, he heard two familiar voices.

"So, your parents said that it was okay for me to sleep over tomorrow?"

"Sure. They like you. Just don't bring your cigarettes."

"You know I won't, Victoria. I never bring my cigarettes to your house. I don't even smoke around your family…except for that one time your dad caught me during that student/parent/teacher conference."

"I know, but still…"

The two original voices were interrupted by three others that weren't familiar to them at all.

"Well well well, what have we got here? A lost little bar girl with her farm girl friend?" a very deep male voice taunted.

"Yeah, you two aren't allowed on this part of the school." A slightly lighter male voice added with a laugh.

"We're allowed to be anywhere on this school whenever we please. You guys don't own this school." The first familiar voice snapped.

"Wrong, Maura. Our parents along with the Perrys are funding this school, so we do own it." The final voice, a high pitched female said.

"Yeah, so turn around and go back to where you belong before we make you." The first male voice said.

"Oh? What are you going to do with us? Throw money at us and hope that we get scared and run away?" Maura asked with sarcasm in her voice.

"Maura, don't start." Victoria said, "I don't want to end up doing something stupid again."

"Fine, then we'll just keep continuing with our walk then." Maura said simply.

A few footsteps in the gravel were heard before the deepest voice said, "Maybe you two didn't hear us. You are on the wrong side of the school. Get back inside!"

No comeback was heard, just walking in the gravel. Finally, the second male voice shouted, "Get them!"

Shanks ran to the back of the school, where the voices were originally heard. Sure enough, there were Maura and Victoria. Unfortunately, rather than there being just three others like Shanks had heard, there was a small crowd filled with what looked like fifteen teenagers crowded around the girls. Rocks were being thrown, insults were being shouted, and fists were swinging…and those were by the fifteen others.

Maura was grabbing a hold of Victoria's hand and attempting to walk away from the crowd while Victoria obediently followed her. After ten seconds, it was shown that the fifteen were not about to let the girls walk away as they created a wall around the two girls, preventing them from leaving. It was at that time that Maura attempted to fight back. Victoria did not. In fact, she looked like she was holding back her powers or at least trying to. It did not look easy with the girls pulling on her long, dark hair and the boys throwing rocks at her. Both girls were out-numbered and she knew it.

Finally, Victoria couldn't hold it in anymore. She was getting beaten for an unfair reason and now it was time for the fifteen abusers to pay. "STOP!!!" Victoria screamed. A huge gust of wind exploded out of her and pushed the fifteen abusers and her best friend into the school building and the few random trees around the school.

The fighting stopped and the fifteen abusers stared at Victoria in disbelief, some in fear. What she had done was…unnatural and rather freakish. She manipulated the wind and caused them to fall into the building and the trees and if she could do it once, she would likely do it again.

"Retreat!" a boy dressed in baggy pants and a tight shirt shouted. The other fourteen abusers ran back into the building after him.

"Mr. Shanks, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to use my powers. I really didn't. It was an accident and I know I promised that I wouldn't do it again, but…please don't punish the rest of the class because of what I did." Victoria cried after she noticed that Shanks had been watching what she had done.

Shanks ignored her and walked to Maura, who was sitting against the back of the school building. "Are you okay, Maura?"

"Ow! Son of a bitch…yeah, I'm fine." Maura muttered as she got back onto her feet.

"Are you sure? Your cheek is bleeding." Shanks asked.

"WHAT?!?" Maura screamed. She reached into her back pocket and whipped out a little make-up mirror similar to what Lynn had. She looked into the mirror and saw that he was right. There was a small cut on her cheek, possibly from when one of the rocks hit her face and it was bleeding a little. "Shit!" Maura shouted before running back into the school with Victoria following her.

Shanks was upset again at Victoria for breaking her promise, but realized that this time it really wasn't her fault although she was going to have the hell of a time explaining this to people when they asked her about the wind attack she did. She could not get a strong hold of her emotions and therefore, could not control what she was doing and that was something that needed to be worked on.

The bell finally rang again and Shanks met up with his class back in the top floor classroom. "Okay, guys. We're going to be doing some physical assignments today…in other words, I'm going to be teaching you how to kick ass and control what you're doing." He announced to the eight of his students as soon as they started settling down.

"Victoria, come up to the front of the classroom." Shanks ordered. The timid girl quickly obeyed him. "You're stuck with the Kaze Kaze no Mi in your body and it's time I taught you how to use it. This lesson will not be easy and it will not be fun, but are you willing to take the chance to learn how to control your powers no matter how bad my lessons get?"

"Yes. I am." Victoria said with slight confidence in her voice.

Shanks smiled at her. It was time for the lesson to begin.

00000000000

A/N: Okay, that's chapter 8. I really tried hard on this chapter since I know little about what Devil Fruits really do, so I just said that Devil Fruits can be uncontrollable when the eater cannot control their emotions…actually, I think that probably is true because I'm pretty sure I've seen that happen in the anime of _One Piece_ where some Devil Fruit eaters could not control their emotions and therefore could not control their powers. _Howl's Moving Castle_ is really a book (it's also an anime, but the real book, not animanga/manga, came first and it's a whole lot better than the anime movie).

This is the translation for what Johnny said:

_Rumo lnyb Victoria_- Holy crap Victoria


	9. Where the Kids Go on Saturday Night

Ch.9-Where the Kids Go on Saturday Night

Shanks was exhausted. It took him nearly two hours just to teach Victoria how to control her emotions so she could control her powers and he couldn't even do it alone. He had to have Maura, Johnny, and Kyler help calm her down but at least the job got done. He also spent the next few hours teaching one-armed fighting moves to all the other kids except for Lynn, who did not give a damn about fighting as she claimed that she would easily break a nail, and Larry, who already knew how to fight good enough with his own two hands to learn anything else. Amazingly, Shanks had an easier time getting the others to obey him when he was fighting and he didn't even need to scream like the "Gordon Ramsey" Kyler mentioned earlier that day.

By the time it was ten minutes before the last bell rang, Shanks chose to give out an easy assignment for the rest of the class to do. It was similar to the assignment they got while reading the _Harry Potter_ book. All they had to do was write a paragraph of something that happened in _Howl's Moving Castle_. "In English, not Al Bhed, Johnny. I also want to see more words than numbers and drawings Larry and Victoria. I also want a whole paragraph Kurt and Elie. Spelling and grammar does count Maura and Kyler. Lynn, I also want you to actually do the assignment."

Eight groans of different pitches came from the eight students, but were quickly replaced by cheers when the bell rang. Like what happened every day, the rest of the class practically shoved each other out of the way just to get to the doorway.

"Okay, guys! I'll see you tomorrow!" Shanks shouted.

"Pfft. Yeah right. Like we'd really be going to school on a Saturday." Maura said with a little laugh.

"We'll see you on Monday, Mr. Shanks!" Victoria called before she left the room with the rest of the class following her.

Shanks was a little confused at why the entire class left in a bigger hurry than they had the last few days and why Victoria said that they'd be back on Monday. His confusion was taken away when he asked Manson about it. Apparently there wasn't any school on Saturdays and Sundays. He had the whole weekend away from those little hellraisers unless he ran into them when wandering the streets or something. He shook off that thought and locked his classroom door. After collecting his full day's worth of payment, he left the school and made it back to the ship for a weekend of relaxation.

It was now Saturday evening. So far, Shanks had not seen one of his students. He didn't even see any of them when he had to walk all the way uptown with a few of his crewmembers just to go shopping at one of the shops. He did, however, see some of the families of his students he met the first day he began working at the high school.

The old woman from Johnny's house that spoke no English was there, digging through bags of dried noodles with another woman that was speaking to her in the language. The old woman noticed Shanks, pointed her finger at him, and shouted something in the language. The other woman responded in the same language before walking over to Shanks and asking, "You're Johnny's teacher?"

Shanks let out a breath of relief as the woman spoke to him in English. "Yes."

"I'm Johnny's mother. Has my son been behaving in class lately?" the other woman asked.

Shanks thought for a moment and pondered at what he would say. Had Johnny been behaving? The answer: not really, but not as bad as the other students. "Well, he's been better than he was the first day of school."

The younger woman, Johnny's mother, who honestly did not look a thing like the boy, nodded and headed off to another part of the store with the old woman.

Shanks had also run into Elie's father, who was buying a case of beer, and Victoria's mother, who was walking down random isles with two of her children: a little boy and girl. Not one of the four had said anything to him and that was fine by him. He wouldn't really know what to say to them either. Elie's father would probably end up putting his daughter through more pain than he already put her through if Shanks confronted him about Elie's injuries. Victoria's mother would probably think of Shanks as a crazy lunatic if he confronted her about Victoria's new powers to control the wind and that was probably one of the last things he wanted.

It was a little difficult shopping here in this new place as most of the food in this shop had to involve items his crew did not own: microwaves, crock pots, and electric mixers. Most of the packaged items would not be able to be purchased as they involved one of the items he did not have. Thankfully, there were some items that could be cooked with a stove and an oven, which the ship had both of.

The nine large bags of meat, ramen noodles, and fresh produce (and a few cans of vegetables) ended up costing close to three hundred dollars, easily around half of a days worth of pay at the high school. The four crew members he brought shopping with him grunted as they lifted up the heavy bags of food and walked a mile back to the ship. As he continued walking, Shanks had not run into any of his students. Of course, he didn't really care where they were. As long as they were away from him, he would be happy.

Saiyoru came back early from work as he had not stopped by the karaoke bar on his way back to the ship. It was strange that he had chosen not to stop by as he had done in the one week the crew had been on Starlight Island, but that still did not mean that he did not want to stop by there earlier that night. In fact, that's what he was planning on doing anyway: bringing the crew to the karaoke bar.

"You want us to go to that karaoke bar?" Shanks asked Saiyoru in fake disbelief.

Saiyoru nodded, "Yeah. It could be fun. Plus they serve good drinks there."

"Heh. You just want to go there to see your little girlfriend, Angel-face." Ben said from the other side of the lounge, where all the rest of the Red Hair Pirates were seated. The rest of the crew laughed when a slight blush came across Saiyoru's face. Whoever this "Angel-face" was, Saiyoru certainly liked her and wanted the rest of the pirates to meet her.

Shanks shrugged, "Okay, we'll go. I want to try out the drinks they serve on this island that isn't thrown in my face." It was settled. The Red Hair Pirates were going to be going to the bar, wherever it was.

The Island Transit was taken to the bar, which happened to be about two miles away from the marina. It almost couldn't fit all twenty-five crew members that were going, but thanks to the lack of other passengers and the fact that all the men squashed together in their seats, they were able to fit.

Shanks and the rest of the pirates finally stood in front of a rather large-sized building in the uptown part of the island. The area around the building was clean except for a few discarded cigarette butts and a food wrapper that lay on the sidewalk. On the top of the building, in bright neon red and blue letters were the words _Capricorn Karaoke Bar_. The group was in the right place.

As soon as Shanks opened the door, the heavy scent of booze, food, and sweat hit his face. Music blasted from all the corners of the building. A stage was against the far right wall with a microphone standing upon it. Girls of different ages and sizes were dressed in the same short skirts and short dark blue tops decorated with tiny white stars were handing out food and drinks to people seated at tables. There were also some men and boys dressed in jean pants and tight dark blue tops also decorated with tiny white stars, handing out the same food and drinks the girls were. There were also a few men in dark clothes standing at the far end of the room, but they weren't doing anything. The other people that were seen were just random kids and adults at tables. All they were doing were drinking, eating, and talking amongst themselves.

Most of the tables were already occupied by kids and adults, but there were two large ones that seemed to fit all of the pirates that had just entered the karaoke bar. The second they all sat both of the tables, two girls with large smiles on their faces and folders in their hands came up to the tables. At the same time, both girls handed the folders out and said happily, "Welcome to _Capricorn Karaoke Bar_."

Shanks smirked at the girl on the right, who was handing out folders to the table he sat at. "Hello, Maura."

Maura let out a little groan, "What the hell are you doing here, Bastard?"

The other girl, a blonde about two inches taller than her, turned to Maura and asked, "You know these guys, Angel-face?" Maura was the Angel-face that Saiyoru kept talking about?

Shanks took a closer look at her. The way Saiyoru talked about her and the name "Angel-face" made it seem as if the owner was somebody hot. Maura wasn't. Sure she was cute for a fifteen-year-old, but not enough to actually earn the name "Angel-face"…or at least that's what he assumed. Apparently Saiyoru and Kyler thought differently.

"Unfortunately. The red-haired guy's my teacher." Maura answered to the other girl. She let out a tired sigh and replaced her frustrated look on her face with the smile she came to the table with. "So, what'll it be?"

"What's the strongest drink you got here?" Shanks asked without looking at his folder.

At the same time, both Maura and the other girl, whose nametag on her top read "Bright Eyes" answered, "The Zodiac Special."

"Good. We'll take twenty-five of those." Shanks answered for the rest of his crew.

"How old is he?" Maura asked, pointing at Saiyoru, unsure of how old he actually was.

"He's twenty." Shanks answered.

"I'm sorry, but the legal drinking age here for alcohol is twenty-one. He can't order any alcohol here. He can have soda or water, though." Bright Eyes answered.

"What? What the hell kind of rule is that?!" Yasopp asked.

"Where do you guys come from? Every city around this country has the rule of where you have to be twenty-one to order alcohol from restaurants, bars, and shops. Oh, and no smoking is allowed in this building." Maura asked.

"Oh, that's why there isn't a cigarette in between your fingers then." Shanks ignored the scowl that came from Maura and looked down at the folder. A name for a drink caught his eye. "Hmmm…_root beer_…well, it has the word _beer_ in it."

"I'll take that, then." Saiyoru, who was sitting at Shanks' table said.

"Okay, then. That's twenty-four Zodiac Specials and a root beer. Can we get you anything else?" Maura asked while writing the current order down on a little notepad she took from a belt on her side. All the pirates shook their heads. "Okay. We'll be back with your orders momentarily."

"I don't know what you see in her, Saiyoru. You got the weirdest taste in women." Lucky told the pirate crew's chef as the youngest member watched Maura walk away from the table.

"You also better forget about getting her. She's too young for you. She's only fifteen." Shanks added. "Also, I don't think you know this, but she's also got a boyfriend already."

"She does?" Saiyoru asked in shock. "Who?"

"Look behind you." a voice from the table behind Shanks said, answering the question Saiyoru asked.

Shanks turned his head and there, sitting at the table with a smirk on his face, was Johnny sitting with Victoria and a group of other kids the man did not know. Kyler was sitting there, too, sipping a drink from a glass. Shanks stared at them. "You guys come here, too?"

"Every kid and teenager comes here on Saturday nights. We get great discounts here on Saturdays." Victoria explained while taking a sip of her drink. "Besides, on Saturday nights, all the new music is played and all the oldies are taken away."

A wobbly voice from the stage echoed throughout the building:

_And on the way down  
__I saw you__  
And you saved me__  
From myself__  
And I won't forget__  
The way you loved me_

Many people in the building winced at the horrible singing coming from the stage. Shanks turned his head and saw a boy he did not know, but had seen in the school cafeteria. The boy was slightly overweight and was singing into the microphone. His acne-covered face was starting to redden with each word he sang. Sweat rolled down from his greasy black hair and down his face. His thick glasses were starting to fog up.

The people in the tables began to boo loudly, but the boy kept singing despite the fact that everyone was basically telling him to get off the stage. Finally, one of them threw what looked like a crushed tomato at the boy and hit him square in the face. "Get off the stage!" a loud voice screamed. The singer obeyed her and ran off embarrassed.

Shanks turned his head towards where the voice and tomato came from. One of the men in the back walked over to the table and screamed at Lynn. "Hey! This is the last time we're telling you this: if you do that one more time, we're banning you from this karaoke bar!" Lynn grunted and muttered something unknown before the man went away.

"So, who's her boyfriend?" Saiyoru asked, turning his attention onto Maura.

"I am." Kyler answered from the next table, "So stay away from my woman."

The look Saiyoru gave Kyler was absolutely priceless, a mixture of anger and surprise like that of a man that was trying to protect something of his that nobody else had. He'd never given that look before and it was actually pretty funny to see him with a look like that especially since he was such a quiet and calm person. Now it seemed he was protective of somebody he didn't even know very well. He probably would have jumped up to do something about it had Maura not come back with her partner, both holding large trays covered with glass mugs. All but one of the liquids in the mugs were a dark blue color.

"Okay, that's twenty-four Zodiac Specials." Maura and Bright Eyes handed the twenty-four mugs with the dark blue liquids to the older pirates. "And one root beer." Maura handed the final mug, full of a brown liquid to Saiyoru. The two girls then walked away to another table.

Shanks looked skeptically at the mug of blue liquid. There was some clear ice inside of it, making the drink look like the night sky. Slowly, he lifted the drink to his lips and took a sip of what was inside. The taste was strong with alcohol with hints of different flavors. It was sweet, yet also tangy and a tad bit sour, but nonetheless, it still tasted good though not as good as the alcohol he was accustomed to drinking on his own pirate ship.

The music on the stage started up again, but this time, rather than a horrible voice coming from the stage, a perfect voice came. Loud cheering came from the tables as the voice started singing. Shanks turned his head and saw Maura standing on the stage in her uniform, holding the microphone and singing:

_I'm hunting on the night the slave to my dream  
__An illustrated seen descends in the sleep  
__We're playing for the fights emotional games __  
I'm turning off my eyes and hiding my shame_

Her body began to move in a free style-type dance as she sang the next part:

_A never ending dream a dream of you  
__I believe I received a sign of you__  
Tonight I want to hide my feelings too __  
As you do and I want to be with you_

The way her body moved when she danced was…amazing. She looked as if she was made to be a dancer. Her body didn't stiff up nor did it move in the wrong way. It was official. Not only was Maura an excellent singer, she was just as good a dancer and the other customers must have seen that, too. The guys and most of the girls were staring at her in admiration with each word sang and each move made by the girl on the stage. The only ones that did not look at her in admiration were Lynn and the little clique of girls she sat with. They stared at her with looks of hatred in their eyes.

Loud cheering came when Maura was finished with her song and walked down the stage steps and back onto the ground to continue her work. After that, everyone else continued their business with drinking and talking amongst each other.

The rest of the night seemed to be going along fine. Sure there were more singers, some bad and some good, on the stage and a few dancers and the noise was loud, but that didn't really matter. This karaoke bar was a good place to hang out in and the drinks were good. The bill that Bright Eyes handed Shanks was a little expensive, but also fair: $74.50. It was $72 for the Zodiac Specials (Bright Eyes had to explain that the Zodiac Special was $3 a glass) and $2.50 for the root beer that Saiyoru ordered. Thankfully Shanks brought along enough money to pay for the bill.

The pirates were about to leave when a fight came between one of the pirates and another customer. No, the pirate did not happen to be Shanks, but instead Saiyoru, who challenged Kyler to a fight for Maura's affections, something neither had done before but had wanted to try at least once in their lives.

The fight took place in the alleyway outside the back of _Capricorn Karaoke Bar_. A large crowd including the pirates, Johnny, Victoria, and even some people Shanks did not know was out there to see the fight in action. Most of the people were cheering for Kyler, but the pirates were around cheering for Saiyoru to win despite the fact that they honestly didn't really care who won or lost. Maura came out dressed in a pair of jeans and a thin T-shirt with a bag slung over her shoulders about two minutes after the fight between her boyfriend and another she did not know started.

Victoria leaned towards Maura and whispered something, possibly what the fight was about, and the red-haired girl smacked her forehead before whispering something back to Victoria.

The fight going on in between Kyler and Saiyoru was actually very interesting. Saiyoru was never really one to fight although he was actually rather skilled with his fists when he felt strongly about fighting about something. Kyler wasn't bad either. It looked like Kyler had had some fighting lessons while growing up even though all Shanks ever saw him do was suck face with Maura and play soccer.

Fists from both boys were flying and most were dodged. The cheering from the crowd kept going and going for both Saiyoru and Kyler. Both were fighting for the affections of a simple waitress and after ten minutes, it seemed that nobody was going to win the fight. The two fighters just kept swinging and dodging. Not one of them even got hit and the fight was starting to get boring.

After twelve minutes, the crowd started quieting and eventually leaving all together, but it didn't really matter. The fight only lasted ten more minutes after most of the crowd left. In other words, the fight only lasted about twenty-two minutes at the most.

The fight had no winner, nor did it have a loser. Saiyoru and Kyler certainly put up a fight, but what they both had forgotten was that it took a lot out of one if all they did was swing and dodge constantly…especially if they were doing it quickly. Only one swing from both fighters was not dodged and that one was the final punch that was aimed at the end. Both of them, at the same time, aimed a punch at the other, made their targets, and fell to the ground _at the same time_ in exhaustion.

Shanks had to admit, he was pretty amused at what he'd been watching. Saiyoru was not really a very amusing person, but he really seemed determined at fighting for the love of a kid. His opponent probably didn't even take the fight seriously. In fact, Kyler looked like he was having lots of fun with this fight.

By the time the fight ended, the only people that still stood in the back of the karaoke bar were Johnny, Victoria, Maura, and the rest of the pirates that were uninvolved in the fight. They were all laughing at the sight. The kids had not seen anything like that happen on any place but television and were greatly amused. The pirates were not as amused as Johnny, Victoria, and Maura since they had been through a few little fights where something like this has happened and no matter how many times they saw it happen, it never stopped amusing them.

"Okay, time to get up, Kyler. It's time to get home." Johnny told his fallen friend as the girls attempted to help him onto his feet. The boy agreed and got on his feet and, with Johnny and Maura's help, began to head towards the front of the bar. Victoria put a smile on her face and waved good-bye to Shanks, "See you on Monday, Mr. Shanks."

"Promise me that you won't control the wind over the weekend." was the only thing Shanks said to her.

"I promise." After saying that, Victoria and her friends were gone.

As soon as the kids left, Shanks turned towards Saiyoru, who was still lying exhausted on the ground. "Okay, kid. Get up. Fight's over."

Saiyoru let out a groan as he slowly stood on his feet and brushed dirt out of his light hair with his fingers. "I lost, didn't I?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, but so did the other guy. You both knocked each other down at the same time. You need to work on your fighting skills." Shanks explained with a serious look on his face. His look of seriousness then changed to a calm smile, "Now, let's go back to the ship. I want to go back before I run into any more of the hellraisers that I have to watch over almost every day."

"Aye aye, Captain!" the pirates shouted in unison. They all left the bar and headed for the ship.

-----------

Okay, that's chapter nine. Sorry if I ticked you guys off without thoroughly explaining what Shanks did to Victoria, but this was something I really wanted to get to. I'll try not to do it again.

The song that the acne-infested boy was singing was _On the Way Down_ by Ryan Cabrera

The song Maura was singing and dancing to was _A Never Ending Dream_ by Cascada


	10. Rainy Day Monday

Ch. 10- Rainy Day Monday

It was raining on Monday morning. The _drip drip drip_ of the little raindrops woke Shanks up from his deep slumber and for that, he was extremely unhappy.

Most of the other crewmates were unhappy about the rain, too. The five pirates that worked in different places would have to walk to their jobs in the rain. The ones that stayed on the ship would either have to deal with doing their jobs out in the rain or be crammed into the ship while listening to the raindrop shitting the deck above.

Nobody was talking during breakfast. All their attention was focused on the loud, quick raindrops, cooking, eating, and getting ready to leave. No other sound was heard and because of that, breakfast lasted only twenty minutes before Shanks found himself walking down the docks.

The slight rain got heavier when Shanks got to the halfway point of the school. It turned to pouring by the time he got to his destination. His hair and clothes were soaked by the time he got to _Morning Glory High_ and so were the many students inside the building although they were beginning to dry off.

Lynn and her little clique were dressed in close to matching skimpy pink tops and black skirts and heels despite the fact that it was freezing outside. They stared at Shanks for a moment before giggling and turning away.

Water rolled down Shanks' skin and hair and dripped onto the floor when he entered the teacher's lounge to confirm that he came to work. A towel was given to him although it didn't help much, and the man headed to the top floor.

Loud music was blasting out of the room even though the door was closed. Through the window on the door, Shanks peeked inside. All the desks were moved so a large circle was made. In the middle of the circle of desks were Maura and Victoria dancing to the beat of the music that came from the radio in the back. Kyler was standing by the windows on the left walls with his fingers running over the strings to a guitar. Kurt was standing in front of a black box closer to the front, staring at it. Elie was next to him, but rather than staring at the black box, she was watching the two other girls that were dancing. Johnny and Larry were by the back, standing on two desks, messing with a gray box on the ceiling. Another visitor was there, too, lying in a tiny carrier on Shanks' desk.

Shanks then saw Maura motion for Elie to join her and Victoria. The small girl reluctantly agreed and walked into the circle. She was having some problems at first, but when Maura stopped her and showed her some new steps, she was able to do them. She must have been having at least a little bit of fun with the dancing even though Maura was stopping her many times. If she wasn't, Elie would have easily beaten up Maura.

The way everybody was moving around, they looked like they were having fun. Or at least the girls and Kyler looked like they were having fun. Kurt looked pretty neutral standing in front of the black box. Johnny and Larry simply looked busy doing whatever they were doing with the box on the ceiling.

Shanks opened the door to the room and stepped inside. A blast of cold air hit him though he had no clue where it was coming from. He let out some of his breath and it came out in smoke. It was freezing inside that one room, which seemed unusual as the hallways in the lower floors and the teacher's lounge was actually a whole lot warmer. He said nothing to the students in the room as he walked around the circle of desks and to the radio in the back. A quick examination showed him the knob under the word "on/off". A line on the knob was pointing at the "on" part, so a quick move to the "off" part caused the radio to turn off.

The girls and Kyler stopped what they were doing and stared at Shanks. Kyler and Maura had annoyance on their faces while Victoria and Elie just simply looked neutral. "Hey, what the hell was that for?" Kyler asked.

"Okay, what the hell are you all doing and why are the desks moved around?" Shanks commanded.

"We needed space to dance." Maura answered, "So we just moved the desks around."

"And why did you move the desks?"

"Mr. Shanks, it's really cold in here. We're just dancing until we can get the heater fixed." Victoria explained.

Shanks was still not quite getting it. "The 'heater' is broken and you're just dancing?" He didn't really know what a heater was honestly. He hadn't seen one yet and the purpose was unknown. The dancing part was still a little confusing. So far, these kids seemed to not care about any types of religion except for possibly some rituals where they asked gods for something. Of course, it seemed like probably only Kurt and Elie would be the only ones to be trying that out since they seemed to probably have the most problems and needed the most help.

It was now Elie the healer/chemist's turn to explain about the dancing. "We are doing dancing as part of an exercise. When you exercise, your body heats up and since it's cold here, we were dancing to keep ourselves warm." She replied emotionlessly.

Shanks nodded. What the girls were doing finally made sense. They weren't doing any type of ritual. They were just trying to keep warm. "Kyler, what were you doing?"

"I needed to get better at the guitar, so I was just doing some practicing." Kyler explained.

"Okay, I think I almost got it. Now, to reconnect these wires…there." Johnny muttered in English from his spot under the large grey box.

Larry sighed, "Okay, good. I'll close it up." Johnny obeyed him and hopped off the desk. Within thirty seconds, Larry picked up a wrench and a few screws and screwed the open part of the box. He moved his fingers to the knobs on the side of the box and flipped the switch to the right a little bit. A little breath of heat came from the box.

"Oh, thank God…heat." Maura gasped.

Slowly but surely, the room was beginning to warm up, kicking out the cold air that was originally in the room and clearly unwanted. Larry and Johnny were busy fixing the heater just to make sure the room wasn't cold anymore.

From the box in front of Kurt came the sounds of two women having a little spat:

"_You're nothing but a stupid whore!"_

"_Shut the hell up, bitch!"_

Shanks turned to the box and saw two extremely overweight women in skimpy outfits that left lots of fat roll from under the clothes, showing the skin. They were fighting over the stick-figure of a man with no shirt on and a smirk pasted onto his face, clearly showing that he was enjoying the two women fighting over him.

"How the hell could you watch that damn _Jerry Springer_ show? It's all nothing but acting." Elie asked Kurt with partial disgust in her voice.

"Yeah." Larry agreed. He then picked up a pen lying on the floor and lifted it close to his lips to make it look like a microphone. He walked over to Elie and said in a half happy-half serious voice, "Welcome back to the Larry Springer Show. Today's topic: My Lover is My Brother. We're here with Elie, who's got a secret."

Elie rolled her eyes but played along anyway with a smirk on her face. "Hey Larry."

"So, what do you have to tell us?"

"Well, for the past six months, I've been sleeping with my sister's husband."

A few fake gasps came from Kyler and Maura.

"And does your sister know about this?" Larry continued.

"Nope."

"Well, she does now. Audience members, welcome Elie's sister, Victoria."

Victoria looked surprised…mainly due to the fact that she was called to play as an angry woman, something she was not used to doing. Maura could do it and so could Elie and Lynn, but she couldn't. It just…wasn't her. However, like Elie, she chose to play along. She walked over to Elie and began screaming, "You bitch! I'll kill you!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Elie screamed back. That caused Victoria to fake-lunge at the smaller girl.

Kyler jumped behind Victoria and began to pull the girl away from Elie. He dodged each and every one of her flailing arms.

Maura raised her hand and Larry walked up to her. "I just came here for my 'Larry beads'!" she said. With that, she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and began to lift it up. In a way, this seemed like a bad thing. She was basically stripping while inside the little building and as far as Shanks knew, stripping was pretty much against the rules in this school. However, she wasn't exactly stripping. Underneath the shirt was…another shirt, an emerald green one that stuck to her skin, making her look thinner than she already was and her breasts bigger.

Larry did not walk over to Maura or the other girls. Instead, he spoke into his little "microphone" again, "You know, we've dealt with betrayal, infidelity, and family affairs, but that doesn't mean that it's right. Just because someone in your family, whether it be somebody that you may or may not get along with, is with somebody you love, does not mean that you should try to destroy your family by having sex with that person. The same goes for the husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend. When coming with a dilemma like that, you should think about who you could be hurting both mentally and physically before you make your big decision because we all know, love is stronger than lust. Until then, take care of yourself…and each other."

"And just what is going on in here?!?" A loud, deep voice echoed through the little room at the top of the school.

Maura's first shirt came back onto her body and covered the tighter one. Victoria, Kyler, and Johnny stopped moving. Kurt flipped the switch from the box to the off position. Shanks slowly turned only to find Manson standing in the doorway with a partially shocked and angry Lynn behind him.

"Well…" Shanks started. His mind suddenly went blank and he could not think of what believable excuse he could make without him looking like an idiot.

Johnny took over, "We were only doing some practicing before we start the play we're going to perform."

"A play?" Manson asked him.

"Yeah, it's called _The Saviour in Blue_. We're going to perform it at the end of the year."

Victoria froze. The excuse of the play was one thing, but choosing this particular one was a whole different story. It was a real play, though not exactly a popular one. She knew. She was the one that wrote it.

Manson bought Johnny's excuse without thinking about asking who made it. As long as the excuse was believable, which this one was, he didn't care. "Well, then good luck with your practicing." He left the room and Lynn walked in.

"Johnny, how could you? Making the play excuse is one thing, but why did you have to choose my middle school play? We don't even have enough people in this class to be all the characters." Victoria cried.

"Tuh'd funno, Victoria. I can find a way to get the drama club to volunteer to be the ones in the play." Johnny explained, "Besides, the play was performed back in middle school and it was a huge hit."

"Besides, all we need to do about the other parts is just hire some random students to be in it. No big deal." Maura added.

Shanks placed a hand on his forehead. Another plan was made without him having any say in the situation. Things couldn't get any worse, right? Wrong.

A sharp cry from the top of the teacher's desk interrupted the play talk. That sound caused Shanks to point at the owner of the noise, a baby laying in its carrier, and asked over the cried, "Who's kid is this and what is it doing here?!?"

"That's my baby, Daulton. Remember? You fainted after he was born on this desk." Lynn answered sweetly.

Shanks sweat dropped at the memory. How could he forget it? It happened in the first hour of the first day he came here to teach. "And what is he dong here?" Shanks shouted.

"Well, my parents were gone and I needed someone to watch over him so I brought him here." Lynn explained, "Don't worry. I'll be here too."

"Well, shut him up!" Lynn was ordered.

Lynn blinked and asked stupidly as she twirled a lock of her blonde hair around her perfectly manicured fingers. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You're kidding, right? You held what's his name…Daulton, for nine months, gave birth to him ON MY DESK, and had to take care of him all weekend, yet you don't know how to shut up him up?" Shanks asked in shock.

"Like I told you before, my parents and our servants took care of him. Whenever he cried, they took care of him." Lynn explained.

"Come on, Lynn. Shut him up. We can't really do anything until he stops crying." Johnny shouted.

Lynn let out a frustrated grunt and rolled her eyes before heading to the carrier. Normally, a mother would pick up her crying child to help calm him down. Lynn was different. She did not pick her baby up. Instead, she grabbed a pacifier lying by his feet and stuffed it in his wide open mouth, hoping that he would stop crying. He didn't. The pacifier was spit out of the baby's mouth and the screams only got louder.

"Lynn!" Shanks shouted.

Lynn shrugged, "I tried. There isn't anything I can do to shut him up. I don't know what he wants."

A strong smell filled the air. Whatever it was, it smelled like feces of some sort…and it was coming from Daulton's carrier.

"Lynn, I think Daulton needs to be changed." Victoria said as she wrinkled her nose a bit.

Lynn paled. "I can't do that! I don't care if he is my child. I won't do it. Victoria, you have little brothers and sisters and I know you changed their diapers before. Can't you do it?" Victoria shook her head. "Larry, what about you? You have kids." Larry shook his head. Lynn turned her head towards Kyler and put a puppy-dog look on her face and said in a baby voice, "Kyler, will you do it for me? Please?" Kyler, like the others shook his head. That pissed Lynn off.

Her puppy-dog look was replaced with the look of that of a child that was denied something they wanted. Her face began to redden and she headed for a black duffel bag leaning against the desk. "Fine, you babies! I'll do it!" she screamed. A diaper and a bag of wipes were pulled out of the bag and, while ignoring the protests of Shanks, Lynn began to change her child on the same place she brought him into the world.

Shanks let out a groan and decided to ignore what was going on his desk. There was nothing he could do once it started. At least when Lynn started changing Daulton, he stopped crying. "Okay everyone. Sit in your desks. It's time for us to start a lesson were supposed to begin last week. Johnny, get up here and teach us some of that 'Al Bhed' language you keep on speaking so I don't have to worry about wondering what the hell you're saying when you speak it around me."

Johnny happily agreed and walked up to the blackboard while Shanks stood against the wall so he could watch without actually having to sit down. Johnny picked up one of the short, almost worn down pieces of while chalk the class was given and wrote in messy letters 'AL BHED'. An explanation was given before any of the words or letters of the language was actually taught. "Al Bhed is a language that is very unique. It is a language that holds no nationality to any country in the world. It only works if you happen to magically go to the world of Spira, which does not exist, therefore, there is no way for anybody to go to the place where the language is said to have existed. Learning the language is not very difficult as all the letters in the same language are the same as the ones in our language. The Al Bhed words are just jumbles of letters. The only words that cannot be translated into Al Bhed are Sin, machina, fiend, or a person's name. In other words, if somebody was trying to say my name, it would not be translated into anything. It would still be Johnny just like Victoria would be Victoria and Larry would be Larry."

Johnny turned around again and wrote the word "oui" on the board.

Lynn looked up from where she was carefully placing the dirty diaper Daulton ruined in a plastic bag with a grossed out look on her face. Her eyes suddenly brightened as she shouted, "I know what that means! _Oui_ means **yes**!"

Johnny shook his head and turned to Lynn. "If I was teaching French, you would be right, but I'm not so you're wrong. _Oui_ actually means **you**." Johnny explained. Underneath the word he wrote down yes. "Each letter in the word translates into another letter unlike any other language here. The 'o' translates to 'y'. The 'u' translates to 'e'. The 'i' translates to 's'. There is no exception where the letters change into a different letter." Lynn snorted and tossed the bag into the garbage can by the door.

Johnny continued his lesson of the Al Bhed language. The lesson all together lasted probably about fifteen minutes. The English vowels translated to Al Bhed and a few English letters were taught to the class despite the fact that everyone else was completely uninterested in the lesson…everyone, that is, except for Victoria. Once the lesson was finished, he sat in the seat next to Victoria and placed a hand under his chin. By that time, Lynn was seated in another desk after placing Daulton and his carrier on another desk.

Shanks made his way towards the storage closet and opened it up. The class had finally quieted down so it was time for another assignment, an art assignment that would hopefully go better than the first one did. Eight pieces of paper was taken out along with eight sharpened pencils of different colors. He walked around in a circle, placing a blank paper and pencil on the desks of his eight students and picking up the papers they wrote on _Howl's Moving Castle_. "The assignment," he announced, "is for you to draw the one thing you hate the most in the world." When he was done, he made his way back to his desk to take a look at all the papers.

Shanks look at the eight papers in front of him while the eight of his students sat in the circle of desks with the paper and pencils in their hands. Some, those being Victoria, Johnny, Maura, and Kyler, looked deeply entranced in their assignments. The rest were just sitting there without doing anything.

Kurt, Elie, Johnny, and Larry's papers had improved since their papers on the _Harry_ _Potter_ book they had to read. All four were full paragraph papers with no money signs on them and written completely in English. Kyler, Maura, and Victoria showed no signs of improvement. Kyler and Maura's were still close to unreadable due to the fact that their penmanship and spelling still sucked. Victoria's still had random drawings all over the paper. Lynn's paper was neatly written, but got off-topic extremely quickly:

_**Howl's Moving Castle** is about a poor girl named Sophie, who works part time in a hat shop and as a whore. She is plain but gets ugly after a witch curses her because her hats are ugly. It was her fault for getting cursed because that's what happens to all poor people. They are all stupid, ugly, and make the wrong decisions. They all deserve to be humiliated and they have to obey the ground the rich and respected walk on. In fact…_

"Uhhh…Lynn…were you actually paying attention to the book?" Shanks asked Lynn with a touch of uneasiness in his voice.

"Are you telling me that I made a bad paper?" Lynn asked in her usual snotty voice.

"I'm telling you that I'm pretty sure that there weren't any whores in the little part of the book we read and your paper is ranting about how bad you think the poor are. D."

"W-what?" Lynn stammered.

"You heard me. D for going off topic and not paying enough attention."

"But…but…" Lynn began to cry.

"Sorry, but the grade sticks. Deal with it."

Lynn's pale face quickly reddened. It was official. She was pissed off again. No teacher in this school gave her a grade like what she had just gotten and spoke to her in a manner that Shanks had used. "How dare you…" Lynn started. She took a deep breath before screaming the rest of what she was going to say, "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT SPEAKING TO ME LIKE THAT!" Following her screams was the sharp cry of her child, who grew frightened because of the voice.

The rest of the class let out a series of groans and the shouts of "Lynn!"

Lynn showed no signs of calming down. She had two choices for what to do about the situation: shut her mouth and calm down Daulton or do something destructive and make his crying worse. She chose to do that latter. She basically went psycho and decided to do something to show her anger so she could try and convince Shanks to change her grade.

A wrench that Johnny was using earlier to fix the heater was only about three feet to her right. It was a good sized wrench, one that could tighten large sized bolts without breaking. To show her anger, Lynn took the wrench and tossed it at the window.

_CRASH_! Johnny's wrench went through the window, forming a large hole in the window. The warm air Johnny and Larry worked so hard on getting escaped from the room. A gust of wind and rain came into the room. Daulton's screams got much worse.

The mixture of cold and screams was almost too much for Shanks to handle and he could handle a lot. What made the situation a lot worse was the fact that Lynn did not show any signs of calming down. She was acting worse than Victoria when she first announced that she ate the Kaze Kaze no Mi. At least then, Victoria claimed it was an accident and tried her hardest to control her emotions. Lynn wasn't even showing a single sign of trying.

"Okay, that's it!" Shanks shouted after five minutes when he finally discovered that no matter what, the noise and cold was not going to get any better, only worse. With his one single hand, Shanks gripped Lynn's left arm and ripped her out of her desk. He ignored all of her whines as he pulled her onto her feet. "Lynn, I want you to take that kid out of my classroom. I'm not going to sit here and listen to the cries of the child of a spoiled little bitch that I have to baby-sit. I want you out of this classroom and I don't want to see Daulton in here ever again. I don't care if you don't have a baby-sitter for him. I want him out of here and I don't want to see him back. Now get out!" Lynn gaped then gave him the puppy-dog eyes as if that would make anything better. It didn't. "NOW!"

For once Lynn didn't need to be told twice. Without saying anything, she grabbed the carrier and Daulton's bag before running out of the room while miraculously not falling or injuring the baby in any way. No tears were rolling down her face and the look of regret was not present on her face. In fact, she looked moderately grateful to leave the room and kept the look on her face as she walked down the stairs of the building.

"Okay, guys. Stop what you're doing. It's time for me to teach you something useful. Kicking ass is usually very easy to do if you know what you're doing. Sure you guys think you can fight, but the truth is you don't. You may be strong but you leave yourselves open for any attack. I see it every time I see you guys fight. In order for you to be strong, you need three things: self discipline, clear mind, and knowledge for what's around you." Shanks announced to the class.

All the students except for Victoria gave a little snort, stating that they did not believe a word he said about them not knowing how to kick any ass. Most of them had already done it, so why was this one-armed guy telling them that they couldn't?

"Oh, you don't believe me? Fine. I want you to prove that you can. Without using any tools or weapons, I want you guys to break one of the empty desks." Shanks ordered.

Maura backed away from the challenge, claiming that she didn't want to end up breaking or bruising her body when she attacked the thick, wooden desks that were placed around the classroom. Victoria also turned the challenge down. Her excuse was that she did not like fighting and did not want her powers to get out of hand again. Besides, her powers would most likely be counted as cheating and wouldn't count. Elie and the guys were the only ones that accepted the challenge to prove that they were strong and could break the desks.

By the time the five were ready to attack a desk, a nice little pile of daggers, guns, a hammer, drill, and many different wrench sizes was placed on the shelf that Shanks caught Elie sleeping on the night Shanks choked her for stealing the Kaze Kaze no Mi. It seemed the students were going to listen to him and take up the challenge.

Kurt went first. As strong and tough as he looked and was, he could not break the desk. He pelted the desk with punches with his bare fists and kicks with his heavy boots but it still would not break.

Elie followed his actions and began to release her anger on the empty desk next to the one Kurt was desperately trying to break. No luck. She was a strong girl, especially for one as small as she was, and could easily kick Shanks through a wooden door as proved on the first day the two "met," but she was not as strong as Kurt and the desk would not break.

Larry took a desk in the back, the one to the left of where Johnny stood when he was fixing the heater earlier in the morning. He had muscles, big muscles. Unfortunately, as often as he lifted weights to make his muscles stronger, the desk turned out to be the victor.

Kyler and Johnny had another idea of how to break a desk. They chose one by the window Lynn broke and, at the same time, began hurling punches and kicks along with a few dirty insults at the desk. Kyler even stood on top of the desk and jumped up and down on it while Johnny continued to punch and kick the desk with all the strength he had. Nothing happened. None of the desks in the classroom even had cracks in them. The only thing that happened was that the room was filled with bangs and insults and they were loud.

Shanks finally held up his one hand and shouted over the noise, "Okay. Stop." Amazingly, he was obeyed. "I was right. You all, even Maura and Victoria, have proven to me that you really don't know how to fight correctly. Just because you are strong and have injured the weaker people does not mean that you can fight. It just means that you are a bully and know how to freak people out. Being a bully and a warrior are two very different things. A bully is someone that fights and gains nothing; not respect, friends, or even the glory of knowing that you can be victorious in fighting because sooner or later, your victims will retaliate and you will lose. A warrior is someone that fights and gains respect, friends and allies, and the glory of knowing that you can be victorious in fighting even if you lose a small battle for you can get better in the next fight. So far, all of you are considered bullies. Everyone, that is, except for Victoria."

"Me? What am I considered?" Victoria asked, "I did not fight and neither did Maura, so why is she a bully when I am not?"

"Easy. Maura only thinks she's strong and claims that she can kick anybody's ass and since she backed out of my challenge, she proved that she can't. You, however, have claimed that you don't like to fight and I believe it because the only times you fought was by a sudden accident and a small little act of revenge that is not counted as a fight by my standards. You are what I like to call, a Peacemaker." Shanks explained.

"So, you're saying that you can break the desk while the rest of us can't?" Kyler asked. Shanks nodded.

"Bullshit! I was able to kick you through a door the first day I saw you and I couldn't break the desk. What makes you think you can when I can't?" Elie shouted.

"I'll prove it. Watch." Shanks said. He turned to an empty desk in the front of the room and raised his one hand up in the air. His hand balled up into a fist and down it fell on top of the wooden desk. Unlike the other desks, this one broke in half sending small splinters of wood flying everywhere and leaving the students with wide eyes and mouths.

----------

A/N: Okay, that's what I got so far. Sorry it took me a long time to update this story, but stuff came up and I really could use some suggestions on what to happen next. I already have ideas of what to have happen in the story and I'm going to do my best to make the next chapters more interesting and don't worry, in the next chapter, I will make a part about Shanks teaching the class how to fight better instead of just skipping it. Here's the Al Bhed translation I used:

_Tuh'd funno_ – Don't worry


	11. Breaking Desks and Learning Math

Ch. 11- Breaking Desks and Learning Math

It was five minutes of staring in complete disbelief before one of the remaining students finally got over the shock and said something even if it wasn't a complete sentence. That student was Kyler. "Dude, what the?..."

Shanks stood in between the desk, which was now split evenly down the middle. "This," Shanks answered, "Is what I'm talking about. You are all weak!"

"You just broke the weakest desk. There's no proof that you are stronger than the rest of us." Elie said emotionlessly.

"Says the girl that could knock me through a door but couldn't break a simple desk." Shanks countered.

Elie glared at Shanks with hate in her eyes. How dare he say something like that to her. It was basically the same thing as calling her weak and weak was something she knew she was not, but…how could he break a desk when not even Kurt, who was stronger than her could not?

"I'm going to show you all how to break a desk by using your bare hands. Your first assignment is to find a desk." Shanks ordered. The order was mainly headed for Maura, Kyler, Victoria, and Johnny but only Johnny, Kyler, Kurt, Elie, and Larry moved to empty desks. Maura and Victoria didn't move from where they were standing. Shanks pointed at the two girls and asked, "Didn't you hear me? I said go to a desk."

"Yeah, we heard you, but I mostly specialize in dodging. Besides, I'll have a hard time dancing if I bruise my arms or legs by hitting a desk." Maura answered.

"Mr. Shanks, I don't like fighting. Couldn't I just use my wind powers so I won't have to touch anybody?" Victoria asked.

Shanks' eyebrow twitched a little as he listened to the girls' excuses, but he chose to let Victoria's slide. She did have a point. She had the powers of the Kaze Kaze no Mi, so she might as well use them. However, he wanted proof with Maura's claim to specialize in dodging. "Okay, you're excused, Victoria, but I'm going to have to give you some special lessons on how to control your wind powers. Maura, I want you to prove to me that you have a specialty." Shanks said.

Maura grinned, "Okay, fight me…without guns or swords. I haven't gotten around to getting really good at dodging bullets and long blades."

Shanks didn't have to be told twice. Without warning, he ran at Maura, throwing quick punches and kicks her way. She dodged every single one of his hits. She even dodged the punches and kicks that came swiftly from above and below her body…and she did it all by simply dancing. "That's what you do?" Shanks asked after five minutes of attempting to catch her.

"Yup. It's all about the dance." Maura said, stopping. "Seems like you can learn something from me rather than me learning something from you."

Shanks ignored her and turned to Kyler, Johnny, Kurt, Larry, and Elie. "The first step for you all to do is to shut up, close your eyes, and block yourself from everything in the world. Just pretend that all the troubles you have in your life are gone. Your pain-in-the-ass parents do not exist neither do the other pain-in-the-ass schoolmates."

"You really want us to close our eyes?" Johnny asked seriously.

Shanks turned to him and shouted, "Is that talking I hear? I said shut up! And yes, you do, so all of you, close 'em!"

Kyler, Johnny, and Larry obeyed him and closed their eyes. Kurt and Elie were not quite so obedient.

"Of all the dumbest shit you put us through…" Kurt muttered.

"Hey, shut up!" Shanks shouted, "Or I'll make you!"

"Whatever." Kurt responded.

Shanks shrugged. His warning was ignored and now it was time for the punishment. He may have only had one arm, but both of his legs were still strong and he knew how to use them in fighting. With no other warning, he ran up to Kurt and kicked him in the gut so hard that he fell against the wall.

Kurt stood back up and ran at Shanks with his hands clenched tightly into fists. How dare somebody kick him! Unfortunately, he never got to actually hit the man. He was kicked back into the wall.

Elie decided that as her cousin was being kicked into the wall, it was her turn to make a surprise attack. Good idea? No way. She didn't even get a warning before Shanks quickly turned around and kicked her into the wall opposite of the wall Kurt was kicked into. She got up and tried to make another attack, but kept getting kicked back into the wall. Even when Elie made an attempt at the same exact time as Kurt, both were kicked into their walls.

The same attacks continued for another twenty minutes and Shanks showed no signs of becoming tired or bored. Elie and Kurt, however, finally admitted defeat and walked back to their own desks and shut their mouths.

Shanks smirked at his two victims, "I knew you would see things my way. Okay, now open your eyes." They did. "Very good. Now think of the one thing you hate the most and channel it into one part of your body. Your choice. It could be your fists, your legs, anything…and I want you to pick the one thing you hate and not screw around with it. Now, go!"

The five that chose to take the lesson did not have to think very hard about what they hated and it was obvious to Shanks what most of them were.

Kurt and Elie were the first to let out their attacks. By both using their right hands, they clenched their hands into fists and slammed them right into the middle of their desks. Their aim was not perfect, mostly because they weren't sure where exactly to pick the best place to make the desk break. They were, however, able to make a large crack in each of their desks, almost permanently breaking the desks.

"Hey, what the hell?!" Kurt shouted.

"You did what I wanted you to do. Congratulations. You and Elie have passed." Shanks said cheerfully.

Johnny and Larry attacked next, this time taking the advice of using their legs rather than their fists. However, unlike Kurt and Elie, they chose to attack from the front corners of their desks: Johnny from the left and Larry from the right. Their cracks were not as large as the ones Kurt and Elie made, but because of the force from the corners of the desks, the leg from the corner they attacked was broken off of the desk and the desks began to tilt a little bit.

"Okay, good. You two pass. Kyler, we're waiting for you now." Shanks said.

Kyler took a deep breath and decided to use his head---literally. Without thinking about what pain he could go through if he used his head as an attack, he took his head and slammed about two inches short of the exact middle of the desk. He got a crack, a big one that wasn't as big as Kurt and Elie's. Along with it, he got an injured face and a bloody nose.

The rest of the students took a look at Kyler and all of them, except for Kurt and Elie, started laughing. As they laughed, Kyler gave them all a playful smile like he actually enjoyed hurting himself by slamming his head into the desk.

Shanks started laughing too, but not as hard as the already laughing students. "Kyler, of all the dumbest fighting moves I have ever seen anybody do, you take the cake. Congratulations. Not only have you passed, but you have also earned the place of Youngest Dumbass Fighter."

Rather than take what Shanks said as an offense, Kyler's smile got wider and he actually said calmly, "Hey, thanks Shanks."

"That wasn't a compliment." Shanks told him.

"You better get used to that. Probably half of the stuff you say, he'll take as a compliment." Maura told him. She walked to her desk and pulled out a small package. From inside the package, she pulled out two little white tissues and placed them over Kyler's bloody nose. "Tilt your head back, babe." She said to Kyler.

Shanks shook his head as he watched the boy tilt his head backwards like Maura commanded him to do. Now it was apparent to Shanks that if Kyler was going to listen to anybody and not screw the order up it would be either Maura or Johnny. Not Shanks. He would have to talk to Maura and Johnny and ask them to make Kyler obey him without screwing the order up, but how? Both of them had minds of their own. All the students did. He would have to do it sometime later. "Okay, that was good, guys. Tomorrow's lesson will be on how to make sure to hit the desks in the right place _without using your head_." That last part was aimed at Kyler. "Also tomorrow, Victoria you will be taught how better use your powers and since you got all that space at your house, you can experiment a little bit as long as you aren't around people or machines or your house. Maura, tomorrow I want to test you again on fighting and dodging." He took a deep breath before adding, "Now all of you take a seat in some of the empty desks. I'm supposed to be a teacher and today I'm going to be teaching you math." The response he got was a bunch of loud groans. "Hey, you guys. What's wrong with math?" he asked.

"It's boring." Larry answered.

"There are too many equations." Victoria answered.

"It makes me think." Maura answered.

"I hate numbers." Johnny answered.

"Yeah, there's too many of them." Kyler agreed.

"Math sucks." Kurt and Elie answered at the same time.

They all had a point, Shanks had to admit. Math _was_ boring and it _did_ suck. There _were_ way too many numbers with too many different ways to use them, which really _did_ make a person think. He hated math, too. Almost everybody he knew, friends or not, hated math. Only the really intelligent people liked math and even a few of _them_ hated it for almost the same reasons as the seven students in his classroom.

"Okay, you guys are right. Math is stupid. However, you have to learn it." he told the class.

"Mr. Shanks, are you going to make us do Algebra or Calculus." Victoria asked timidly.

Shanks placed a confused look on his face. _What the hell is she talking about?_ "Alge-what? What-ulus? The hell are you talking about? I never even heard of those."

"Algebra is a hard class that has lots of different equations, variables, and exponents." Johnny explained.

"That's nothing. My brother, Adam, took Calculus in this school eight years ago and he has his old book. He showed me the book and it was talking all about permutations, a butt-load of ways to find the exact area and perimeter of something you have to measure on your own, and the hell of a lot more things that I've never heard of. He took Trigonometry the next year and he said it was a whole lot harder." Maura argued.

"Variables, exponents, permutations, Trigonometry…sounds like words a drunk person would make up. I don't know what the hell they mean, so if any of you guys know what they mean, forget them. You aren't going to use them in real life. I'm going to teach you the only math skills you need to know: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and a few fractions and decimals." Shanks answered.

Victoria looked a little more relaxed.

"It's still going to suck and be boring and there will still be a lot of numbers and you will have to think, but you won't have to worry about all these different equations." The class members, all of them, groaned.

"Shut up!" Shanks ordered. Strangely enough, they all obeyed him and shut their mouths. "That's better. Now sit in any desk that isn't ruined." Even more strangely, they all obeyed _that_ and took seats in any undamaged desks. "Now take out a piece of paper and take notes. I don't want you guys forgetting this."

That last order was not obeyed by most of the class. In fact, the only ones that took out sheets of paper were Victoria and Kurt. All the others stared boredly at the board at the front of the room, where Shanks stood with an eraser in his hand. He took the eraser and wiped away all the parts of Johnny's Al Bhed lesson that was written on the board.

After Johnny's lesson was erased, Shanks replaced the eraser with a used piece of chalk and wrote, in large letters, the word "ADDITION". "Addition is probably the most useful math skill you really need to do and the easiest. It's basically counting and if you take 2 + 2 and add it together, you get the answer 4…" As Shanks wrote on the board addition problems, he took at the class from the corner of his eye.

Kurt and Elie were sitting on the far right side of the room in desks side-by-side, away from the rest of the students. Kurt was scribbling something on a piece of paper with a pen. A few times Elie grabbed the pen away from him and added something on before Kurt either shook or nodded his head and took the pen back. It was pretty clear that they weren't taking any notes, but he didn't expect them to.

Larry was sitting in the one of the desks in the very back, right next to the toolbox that held the tools that fixed the heater. He wasn't doing anything except for staring at the clock, silently wishing for the time to go by fast so that he could get out of the room.

Johnny, Victoria, Kyler, and Maura were sitting in four seats in the far left side of the room, all side-by-side. The farthest right, the closest to Shanks, was Johnny and sitting next to him was Victoria, who sat next to Maura, who sat by the farthest left one, Kyler. They all had pens of different colors out and wrote on a piece of paper before passing it to the next person. A couple times the girls giggled at what they read on the paper and sometimes the boys let out little chuckles.

After five minutes, Shanks stopped and turned around. He looked at the four that were making all the noise. "So, I take it that you are all enjoying my lesson." he told them.

Bravely, Maura lifted her hand up in the air. "Hey, I got a question." She said rather loudly.

"And I'm afraid to know what it is." Shanks responded. "Go ahead."

"Why are you making us take math that is intended for first graders? You think we're that dumb?"

Shanks looked at Maura and asked in a serious voice, "Do you want me to be truthful?"

The four on the left side nodded.

"The way you guys are, I'm surprised most of you can even count. Johnny and Victoria are the only ones that I truly believe know this stuff, but I have my doubts about the rest of you. Maura, I think you can count. I also think the same way about Larry, although he is still in school with kids, and the two cousins even though they don't pay attention or care about what I do. After Kyler's display of attempting to break the desk and the way his papers on the books were written, I seriously doubt he can count without help from others."

"Hey! I can count by myself!" Kyler shouted.

"Prove it. Count to ten without any help." Shanks said.

"One two three four five six seven eight nine ten." Kyler answered without any hesitation or help.

Shanks nodded, "Okay, good. You have proven to me that you have graduated from Kindergarten. Now, if you can do this paper tonight, I will know that all of you have passed the first grade." He reached into his desk and pulled out seven sheets of paper and handed each of them to the students.

"Ah weak." Kyler and Johnny groaned.

Shanks took out an eighth sheet and handed it to Johnny. "Give this to either Lynn, if she's still here, or one of the members of her little group." he said calmly.

"No way. I can't stand them." Johnny said before handing the paper to Victoria. "You do it. Everyone likes you."

Victoria shook her head and handed the paper to Maura. "I don't like them. Maura, you do it. You're braver than me."

Maura laughed at Victoria. "Right, I'm really going to give something to the one group of people that hates me more than anything on the island." She handed the sheet to Kyler. "You give it. They like you and would take anything from you, especially if it's meant for Lynn." Kyler groaned, but seeing as there was no other students sitting close enough for him to hand the sheet to, he agreed.

The time couldn't have been better for Shanks or the students because as soon as Kyler agreed, the bell rang for lunch and Shanks couldn't blame all of them for dashing out of their seats and towards the lunch room, taking their papers with them.

Lunch today was a hot soup with a choice of water or juice, which was a good thing because the cafeteria was still a little cold and it was still pouring outside. Kyler handed Lynn's homework to her little group of friends at their table and they gladly accepted it. He then took a seat next to his friends while the rest of his classmates sat where they normally were. The teacher's lounge was full of shivering adults who either had nothing interesting or nothing at all to say.

After lunch was over, the seven of Shanks' students that stayed made it up to their classroom with their teacher following them. As soon as they opened the door, they felt a gust of wind enter from the hole in the window. Somebody had turned off the heater and taken away the toolbox so the room was freezing and a damp feeling was in the air.

Quickly, Johnny ran to the cabinet that held the art supplies and pulled out a large roll of thick gray tape and a small knife before heading for the window. Kyler followed him and took the tape from Johnny and handed it over to Victoria. Johnny ordered Victoria to hold the tape while Kyler unrolled and cut it. The girl did not protest.

Within the span of three minutes, Kyler unrolled large strips of the tape, but them and handed them to Johnny, who taped them over the hole. Everyone else stood either to the side or holding something.

"Victoria can control the wind. Can't she just use her powers to make it go in a different direction?" Elie asked.

Shanks nodded, "She could, but she's not experienced enough and would probably make the hole bigger or even destroy the entire window altogether. Also, the Kaze Kaze no Mi can zap away energy if used too long. Judging by the weather, it doesn't look like the wind's not going to stop any time soon and Victoria can't stop the wind. What Johnny and Kyler are doing is the best we can do."

It was still cold in the room and the area around the window was soaked with rain by the time the hole Lynn made was taped up, but at least no more rain or wind was getting through. Unfortunately, the room was cold and to top it all off, the wind outside caused the power to go out and because heavy rain clouds covered up the sun, there were no outside lights to enter the room. All the street lights were on the front side of the school, not the back, where the classroom was.

Twenty boring, quiet minutes passed before Victoria's timid voice asked, "Mr. Shanks, can we please go home?"

Shanks turned his head towards the clock, which had stopped moving the second the power went out. "Ah, what the hell, sure. However, I wouldn't recommend you practicing your powers tonight in this storm, Victoria. Save it for a more clearer day."

"Yessir." Victoria said happily.

"Good. Now get out of my classroom, all of you!" Shanks ordered.

The students didn't need to be told twice. They all ran out of the room faster than they did when they left for lunch. Shanks shrugged and erased what he wrote on the board and headed down to the main office and gave his notice that he was leaving early since he let all of his students leave.

Manson wasn't upset about the decision. Some of the students were already leaving to go home anyway, so it didn't really matter. A couple of the teachers were planning on just packing up their things and going home after their students left.

Shanks never felt happier to be back onto his ship. The rain got worse and even a few of the street lights weren't working. He had to rely on some of the car's lights just to see where the road was and his instincts to find his way back to his ship. As he dried off, he told the rest of his crew about his day and how…eventful it was. As he talked, he couldn't help but to remember the notes Johnny, Victoria, Maura, and Kyler were writing. Did they have something planned? He wouldn't find out until the next day.

_**TUESDAY**_

The weather was a little bit worse than it was yesterday. It was still rainy and the clouds were thicker. The streets were aligned with puddles, but the power was back on so Shanks had working street lights that guided him to the school and the cross walks.

Even better news: all of his students were in better moods than they were yesterday. Kurt and Elie weren't picking fights with others, Lynn and Maura weren't screaming at each other, and Victoria was smiling.

Shanks took a good look at Victoria. Her dark hair was tied back with a yellow headband and she wore a pair of jeans and a cute purple top, but that didn't catch his attention. What caught Shanks' attention was the stack of little books Victoria held in her hands. "Hey Victoria, what's with the books?"

"You don't remember?" Victoria asked, "Our class is doing a play for the end of the year and Principal Manson expects us to go through with it so I brought along the books for us. I even picked parts for everyone."

"Okay, that's good."

"May I hand them out now?" Victoria asked.

"I guess, sure."

Victoria smiled and turned to Kyler, who sat in the same desk he sat in yesterday. "Kyler, you will be playing the part of the hero, Deveon. You will have the most lines and you will be the main character of the play. You are also going to have to work on being the silent type, but there is a good side to this: You get the girl." She explained.

"Oh yeah!" Kyler shouted. He took a look through the book and said with a confused look on his face, "Hey, what's a meridian?"

"Looks like somebody needs to work on his vocabulary." Maura laughed.

"You do too, Maura. That's why you will be playing the part of the evil fairy-siren, Aeriala. She's got a bunch of big words, too." Victoria said as she handed two of the books to her two friends.

"Excellent. I get to be evil and I get to sing and dance." Maura smiled.

Victoria next placed a book into Johnny's hands. "You get to be Samuel, Deveon's best friend. Act child-ish and girl crazy…or act like Kyler. You can handle that, right?" Victoria asked.

"Absi-posi-you-better-believe-it." Johnny said with fake enthusiasm.

"….okay, fine. You can act like him, too. Just no speaking in Al Bhed."

"Gotcha."

Victoria smiled at him timidly and placed a booklet on Lynn's desk.

Lynn stared at Victoria with a hateful look on her face. "This had better be a good part. I'm getting tired of being insulted by you poor people." Lynn snapped.

"Is the part of the beautiful Princess Marie good enough?" Victoria asked. Lynn's face began to slightly change to a pleased look. "You get to kiss Kyler in the play and help kill Maura."

Lynn's face no longer had the hateful look. It completely changed to a happy, pleased look. "Victoria, honey. Maybe I underestimated you. Maybe you aren't as bad as the others in this god-forsaken room." Lynn said sweetly.

"Ummm…thanks, Lynn." Victoria said before heading to Kurt's desk and placing a book into his hands.

"The hell is this?" Kurt asked.

"Your part." Victoria explained, "You will be playing Griever the thief. You don't talk much and you are hardly on the stage."

Kurt muttered something Victoria could not make out. She ignored it and headed to Elie's desk next to his. "Elie, you will be Calle, the mute eleven year old daughter of a poor wood carver. You only have five lines at the end of the play. Otherwise, you just walk around without saying a word." Victoria placed a book in Elie's hands.

Elie, like her cousin, grunted something Victoria could not make out.

"Larry." Victoria said, placing a book in Larry's empty hands, "You are going to be Harold, the adoptive father of Calle."

One more book was in her pale hands…and it was placed in the hand of her teacher in the front of the room. "Mr. Shanks, you will be playing the part of King Leo."

Shanks pushed the book back into Victoria's hands and shook his head. "No way. I'm not going to have any part of this." he said simply.

"You only have a few lines." Victoria said.

Shanks shook his head, "Forget it."

Victoria felt hurt. The others seemed at least moderately pleased with their parts. Kurt and Elie were participating, so why wasn't Shanks? She then remembered something her brothers and sisters did to get what they wanted. She was sixteen, too old to do it, but it couldn't hurt to try. She widened her violet eyes and gave Shanks the puppy dog look.

Shanks knew what Victoria was doing and it wasn't going to work. He refused to fall victim to the puppy dog eyes. It happened too many times to him especially when he met up with a little boy who, like Victoria, ate a Devil Fruit. When Luffy did it, he was better than Victoria and Shanks never fell for it. "I said forget it."

Victoria took a deep breath. It was time for her to do something drastic, the one thing that would almost give her success. She forced some tears to fill up into her eyes and began to cry. "B-but I t-thought you would do it, too. B-besides, I spent so much time picking out the best part for you…" she cried and pushed the book back into Shanks' hand.

Shanks took a quick look through the casting part of the book and his face brightened. Victoria only gave out eight parts, but there were still at least fifteen parts that needed to be filled, so how could all the parts be filled?

His answer came when Manson's voice came through the intercom, "Good morning, students. Please rise to say the Pledge of Allegiance." None of the students stood while the pledge was being said. After the pledge, Manson started talking again, "Today is Tuesday, March 6th. Due to the rain, tennis practice has been cancelled. Chess and Choir club are still going on after school. Chess Club will meet in room 115 and the Choir Club will meet in the gymnasium. Also, the end of the year school play will be _The Saviour in Blue_ by Victoria Marxus. A list of parts available will be posted in the cafeteria during lunch and auditions will begin after school in the same place. Thank you and have a nice day."

"Please, Mr. Shanks." Victoria begged while still crying.

_No, don't look into her eyes. Don't look into them. Don't look into them….Dammit, I can't help it. She's been so nice lately instead of a little hellraiser like the others…I gotta do it._ "Are you sure I only have a few lines?" Shanks asked.

Victoria nodded, "And you only appear in the play in the middle and for a minute in the end."

"Then I'll do it." Shanks promised.

Victoria smiled and threw her arms around Shanks' waist, "Oh thank you, Mr. Shanks!"

Shanks did not smile back at Victoria. What have I got myself into?

----------

A/N: Okay, that's chapter 11. Hope you guys like it. I know I did not explain who Johnny was acting like but I will explain in the later chapters, but if you guys want, you can guess who he's acting like. R/R please.


	12. The Storm of the Century

Ch. 12- The Storm of the Century

"Okay, guys. Hand me your math papers so I can see how smart or dumb you guys are." Shanks announced after he finally got Victoria to remove her arms from his body.

At almost the same time, every student, even Lynn, placed their papers on Shanks' desk before making it back to their own desks, which were still in the same circle that they were in yesterday.

Shanks placed the book Victoria handed him next to the papers and took a very quick look at all the papers. All of the problems were answered what looked like correctly even though half of the papers were written in horrible handwriting or had little drawings on them. It was official; they all did know how to do addition. "Good. You were right, Maura. You do know how to do addition. Later on today, I will teach you guys subtraction." Shanks announced.

The rest of the class groaned like most of them had done yesterday.

"That's second grade work." Johnny groaned, "We're in high school now. Maura and Elie are the youngest and they are in the ninth grade. Can't we do at least ninth graders work?"

Shanks shook his head, "You will learn and do what I teach you. Things will get harder, trust me. I just have to make sure that you are all good enough to learn handle this stuff."

Again the class groaned, but this time Shanks just simply ignored them. "Before we get to the math, I want to continue on with the fighting lesson yesterday. Everyone except for Maura and Victoria take another empty desk, whether it be the same one you used yesterday or a brand new desk."

Kurt, Elie, Kyler, Johnny, and Larry took the same desks they used yesterday. Lynn, however, did not move from her desk and instead looked at Shanks with a confused look on her face. "What are we doing exactly?" she asked.

"You are learning how to fight with your body, so take a free desk." Shanks explained.

Lynn shook her head, "I'm not beating up on a desk. I'll break a nail or damage my body."

Shanks sighed and said, "Alright, you can practice dodging with Maura. Just get out of the way of the fighters." Lynn nodded and stood by the door of the classroom. "Okay, I want you guys to again shut up, close your eyes, and channel your anger into one part of your body…and for God's sake, do not use your head _Kyler_. Your fists or legs will be fine." Kyler rolled his eyes and closed his eyes like the other fighters had.

After it looked like everyone was ready, it was time for Shanks to continue. "Okay, now open your eyes." They did. "Before you fight the desk, I want you to take a look at the desk. The best place to hit it is in the exact middle of the desk. It may seem like the side or the very back or even the front will do the most damage, but trust me, it won't. You are better off hitting the middle because that way all parts of the desk will feel the wrath. If you hit it from the back, the front will not feel any wrath. The same goes for if you hit the front, the back will not feel any and if you attack a desk from one side, the other will not feel it. Now, go and hit the desk in the middle with every bit of anger you have in your body."

In unison, the five that chose to fight the desks released their anger onto their chosen desks. Kurt and Elie kept to their fists, Johnny and Larry kept to their legs, and Kyler joined Kurt and Elie by using his right fist. They all aimed at the exact middle of the desks. A series of large cracks erupted as the five attacked desks broke with large cracks going right down the middle…and it all only took one move.

"That's good." Shanks said calmly, "But remember, you got off easy. There will be times where you have to fight a moving person that could easily kill you and at those times, you will not have the option of closing your mind and taking all the time you need to gather your anger and pick the best spot to attack. You will have to make a quick decision without taking a whole lot of time. Got that?"

A series of "yeah"s came, some enthusiastically and some not.

"Okay, then. Maura, like I told you before I want to test you again on your dodging skills and I want to test Lynn on this, too."

"What, are you going to make us fight each other?" Maura asked.

Shanks shook his head and answered, "No, I think you and Lynn get enough of that when you fight each other during lunch and on your free time. I got somebody else to fight you." He turned to the five that attacked the desks and asked loudly, "Kurt and Elie, you guys wanna test your skills on actual moving targets?"

Kurt and Elie looked at each other, smirked, and nodded. They walked over to Maura and Lynn and stood in front of the two. Kurt stood in front of Maura while Elie stood in front of Lynn.

"Okay, I want to do this separately, so Lynn and Elie will watch as Kurt and Maura fights. Kurt, show me your fighting skills and Maura, show me your dodging skills." Shanks shouted before backing away from Kurt and Maura. Elie and Lynn got the same idea and backed away.

Kurt clenched his hands into tight fists and aimed heavy punches at Maura. With her swift dancing moves, she dodged every single one of them. She even dodged his kicks that he aimed at her. His attacks were faster and more frequent than Shanks' and she still dodged them. All the punches that were aimed at her head was dodged by Maura ducking gracefully. All the punches that were aimed at her middle was dodged by a simple dance move that involved her turning to the side. Every time Kurt kicked her, she leapt up in the air and sometimes did a little twirl. She dodged all the moves by simply dancing.

Shanks decided, after ten minutes, that it was time for him to intervene. "Okay, okay. Good job. Kurt, you did great, but you have to realize that you will have to learn when to use your great strength at a fast enemy. Maura, you have to learn to fight back while dodging. You are probably not as strong as you think you are or look, but you missed so many chances at attacking Kurt after you dodged his punches. You need to work on that."

After a nod from Kurt and Maura, it was time for Elie and Lynn's turn. "Lynn, you will dodge the attacks Elie will aim at you. You don't have to dance like Maura did, but I don't want you hiding your face because you are afraid of Elie. Just dodge her attacks. Elie, don't kill her and if she's down, stop attacking her." Shanks ordered.

Elie smirked and tightened her left hand into a fist. She was technically right handed and she just wanted to see if Lynn could last with her weaker left hand. She even moved slower than Kurt did. Her first punch hit Lynn on the right arm, her second got Lynn on the left, and her third got Lynn in the gut, which caused Lynn to fall to the ground gasping. She didn't dodge one punch.

"Pathetic Lynn. You didn't even try dodging. From where I was standing, I could tell that Elie was going easy on you and you only lasted one minute. If this was any normal battle, you would have already been dead." Shanks said in a disgusted voice.

"It's not my fault!" Lynn argued, "Elie was just being brutal. She didn't even give me a chance!"

"She gave you lots of chances!" Shanks shouted back at her, "You just didn't try and take them." He took a deep breath and calmed his voice down and turned to the windows. The rain had gotten worse and so had the wind. The rain was now coming down so hard that it was almost impossible to see what the weather was like outside. The wind was so strong that the school building started to shake. The tape that was covering the hole in the window Lynn made was torn off by the wind. The lights were starting to flicker. "Victoria, we're going to have to put off your fighting for another day. The weather is even worse than yesterday and I can't risk you injuring everyone else here."

Victoria shook her head and said calmly, "It's alright, Mr. Shanks. I can wait."

"So, what's next for today?" Kyler asked.

Shanks thought for a moment. He really didn't feel like teaching math until later and didn't really have any other plans. "I don't know. Just draw or something with art supplies."

"Can we watch TV before the power goes out?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sure."

As the others went to grab art supplies, Kyler turned on the TV and grabbed the remote. Almost immediately, he started flipping channels after one of the class members said "Change it." In the first five minutes of channel surfing, it sounded like nothing but mixed voices coming from the little box:

"_Kiss my fat ass…" _

"_Welcome to The View…" _

"_It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood…" _

"_I'm leaving you, Stephan…" _

"_BAM!..." _

"_¿Gabriella, cómo SE QUE este bebé ES mío??..." _

"_Bob the Builder…" _

"_President Bush…" _

It kept going on like that until finally Kyler stopped on one channel with a girl screaming while being carried into a closet by another woman by her hair.

"Hey, it's _Carrie_!" Johnny shouted.

All of the students stopped what they were doing and watched the tortured girl. Finally, it came up to a part where the girl was standing in front of a bathroom mirror with her hands on her cheeks. As she stared into the mirror at her reflection, the mirror began to shake until it finally shattered. At the exact second the mirror shattered, the wind knocked the power out, darkening the room and causing all the girls in the classroom to scream and the boys to jump. Shanks couldn't blame them. He jumped, too.

"What's going on, what's happening?!" Lynn started crying.

"It was a power outage, Lynn." Larry answered simply.

"The building is shaking! It's a hurricane!"

"It's not a hurricane. Hurricanes happen in the south. We live in Washington, that's the north. We don't get hurricanes here." Johnny explained.

"Then it's a tornado!"

"Tornadoes happen on the east. We live in the Northwest. We don't get tornadoes here."

"Then it has to be either a cyclone or a typhoon!"

"It's not any of those. We would have heard about them if it was. It's only a wind storm."

"Okay, are there any candles or something for light?" Shanks shouted over Lynn's crying that did not cease after Johnny tried to explain that nothing very bad was happening.

"In the art cupboard!" Larry shouted back.

By using the sense of touch, Shanks made his way to the art cupboard and took out two large candles and placed them on the closest desk that was nowhere near the windows. "Anybody got a light? Possibly Maura?" Shanks shouted.

Maura made her way to her desk and pulled out a lighter she used to light cigarettes and lit both candles. Now the room had a little bit of light. Everyone was standing where they last were. Everyone that is, except for Lynn. She was hiding in a corner by the door at the other side of the room than everyone else, crying her eyes out.

Shanks turned to the rest of his class and asked, "Anybody want to calm her down?"

The rest didn't say anything. In fact, all they really did was stare at him with their eyes clearly saying, "No way in hell."

Shanks let out an annoyed sigh, "Okay, fine. I'll take care of her."

"I'll see if the radio works. It's battery powered so maybe a connection can get through." Kyler said. He walked over to the radio on the shelf and messed around with the little knobs on the sides. At first, nothing but a bunch of static came through. Finally, a young woman's voice came over the radio:

"Attention citizens of Starlight Island and Whidbey Island, this is an update on the weather and what you can expect later. The temperature at the moment is 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Heavy rain and thundershowers are being accompanied by gusts of wind up to 70 mph. Most power is lost on both islands. It does not look like the weather is going to calm down any time soon, so our advice to you is to stay put in any building you are in and stay away from windows. Do not go outside for your own safety. So far the damage has moderately heavy. Trees have fallen in the roads and power lines have been snapped. Do not leave where you are. We will update you later… I repeat…"

"Okay, you guys heard the lady. Get away from the window." Shanks announced.

Johnny turned his head towards the window and, thanks to a flash of lightening, he saw something out the window. "Hey, guys! The recycling bin is flying in the air!" he shouted.

"Johnny, get away from the window!" Shanks shouted.

"Okay, okay. I'm going." Johnny said calmly, joining the rest of the class at the other side of the room.

"We're all going to die here, you know. All of us are going to be crammed into this one room when the school collapses and crushes us all…" Lynn cried.

Johnny rolled his eyes and rather than explain again that it was just a windstorm, he headed to a nearby broken desk and took out the toolbox that was sitting on that same shelf. By using the tools, he started repairing the broken desk.

"And the repairman is in…" Kyler said sarcastically.

Maura and Victoria giggled. Johnny muttered something at Kyler and continued his work with a smirk on his face.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Maura asked in between giggles.

Shanks shrugged and simply answered, "I have no idea. Just wait for a while until lunch or until the weather clears up enough for us to go home. Anybody know any good jokes?"

The jokes came pouring in from most of the students, but they weren't exactly all pleasant. In fact, they were mostly funny but disturbing. One joke was about a man, a donkey, and the donkey's private parts. Another joke was about a man and two unexpected presants from a hooker. The list kept going on. All, or at least most, of them had to deal with somebody's private parts or a stripper. Strangely enough, most of those jokes didn't even come from Larry. They came from Kyler and Johnny.

"Whoa. Those are good jokes, but where the hell did you learn things like that?" Shanks asked.

"We live in the generation where almost anything on TV is dirty, so we mostly get our jokes from that…we also got some of them from Victoria's older brother, Keith." Kyler answered.

Before Shanks or anybody could respond, the door opened, causing Lynn to jump. Standing in the doorway was Brenda with a flashlight. "Lunch is ready. You can all head down to the cafeteria." She said. After that, she walked out of the doorway and down the stairs.

"Okay, guys. Lunch time. Victoria, grab the candle and Maura light up your lighter. We're going to use those as a guidance for our trip down the stairs." Shanks ordered. Both girls did what they were told and grabbed the items they were ordered to grab. They slowly started to walk down the stairs with the rest of the class following them.

Going down the stairs was not an easy or pleasance task. The building continued to shake as the nine headed down the dark stairs aided by the candle and Maura's lighter. Things were going downhill quickly. Lynn was still in hysterics, Victoria nearly dropped the candle, and after Maura's lighter ran out of oil Kyler thought it would be funny to place his hands on Johnny's shoulders and give him a little push while still holding on. After that happened, Johnny let out a shout of surprise before shouting, "You bastard!"

"Hey, whoever that was, knock it off!" Shanks shouted from the back of the line of the nine.

"We're all going to die here." Lynn cried.

"Shut the hell up, Lynn. We are not going to die." Maura shouted in an annoyed voice.

"Yeah, we're at the bottom now." Victoria answered from behind Maura.

It was true. The group was already at the bottom and thankfully a line of lit candles lead the way to the cafeteria. Victoria blew out her candle and the eight students, even the still crying Lynn, ran towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was unusually empty. It appeared that only fifty students were around, much much less than there were when Shanks first got to the building. Most of the tables were empty. Only three girls from Lynn's group were still around and they were all in hysterics, too. Kurt and Elie's table was empty. Only two of Kyler's friends were still around.

The food being served was not hot, but then again, Shanks didn't really expect it to be with this weather. Lunch was ham sandwiches with lettuce, mayonnaise, cheese, and mustard served on cold white bread. Juice and water was served as a drink. Dessert was a little cup of strawberries.

There was so much space and so little noise in the large cafeteria that Shanks decided just to eat there, at an empty table. A few of the other teachers (there weren't that many) followed his lead, but instead took some of the empty seats at the table Shanks sat at. As they sat, they explained why there were so few students left in the school. Back when the wind started getting bad, most of the students just packed up and went home. One of the fifty that stayed left about ten minutes after the larger group of students left, but instead of driving, the boy walked. He walked one block before turning back and coming to the school. The wind was so bad that his backpack, which was stuffed with books and a walkman, was blown off his back and away from the boy. The wind blocked most of his vision that he could not see the crosswalk when it came for him to cross the street so he had to turn back to be safe.

A bunch of mumbling was heard at the table next to Shanks. He turned his head and spotted Kyler saying something with his mouth stuffed with what probably was his sandwich.

"Kyler, swallow your food before talking. It's gross." Maura said loudly.

As a response to what Maura told him, Kyler leaned forward and, with his mouth still full of his food, gave Maura a kiss while she started saying something to Victoria.

Shanks raised an eyebrow as he watched Maura's eyes widen and Victoria and Johnny began to laugh.

Kyler removed his mouth, swallowed the remaining food, and asked, "Can I have your strawberries?"

Maura smirked, grabbed her cup, and smashed the strawberries into Kyler's face saying, "Take 'em." That got Johnny and Victoria to laugh even harder. Even Kyler was laughing.

Kyler's face turned into a smirk and he began to open his mouth. Apparently Maura, Johnny, Victoria, and the friends that stayed knew what he was going to do because they immediately said, "Kyler, no. Don't do it…" but it was too late. As he opened his mouth, Kyler shouted, "Food fight!"

All the others, being high school students, immediately started taking apart their sandwiches and throwing them across the lunch room at others, squealing and laughing when either their targets were met or they were hit themselves. The noise quickly escalated to an almost unbearable point, and it wasn't just the students that were making the noise either. The teachers were making just as much, if not more, noise as the students as they screamed for them to stop throwing their food and to be quiet. They were unsuccessful and gave up after five minutes.

The noise and fights continued for another good ten minutes before a loud whistle covered up the noise. Almost immediately food stopped being thrown and students stopped making any noise. Everyone in the cafeteria turned in the direction of the whistle and spotted a very angry Brenda with a whistle in her mouth.

Brenda's lips released themselves from the whistle, causing it to fall onto her chest with a little rope around her neck. She really was pissed. Her hair was almost poking through her hairnet and her face was turning completely red. She took a deep breath and screamed a loud speech about how long it took her to make those sandwiches and how much work it was going to be for the janitor to pick up all the pieces of food on the floor and walls.

After her speech ended, a very heavy gust of wind entered the cafeteria. Shanks turned his head towards the wind and saw the doors wide open. In an instant, two of the teachers at his table rushed forward and slammed the doors shut. Shanks took a look around the room. So far it looked like nobody moved and everyone was still in their spots, until he took a closer look.

"Where are Maura and Elie?" Shanks shouted.

Kurt, Kyler, Johnny, Larry, and Victoria immediately started turning their heads around the room before frantically shrugging.

"They went outside." Lynn answered.

"What?!" Shanks shouted.

"They told us that it was safe outside…" One of Lynn's friends started.

"So we told them that they should go outside to prove it…" Another friend continued.

"So they did." The third friend finished.

"Fuck." Shanks almost shouted. He ran to the door with Kyler, Larry, Kurt, Johnny, and Victoria behind him. Larry and Johnny opened the doors again. Immediately, the wind hit the six in the face. "The wind looks really bad! I can hardly see a thing!" Victoria shouted over the wind.

"Like I give a fuck. I'm going out there!" Kurt shouted.

"So am I." Kyler agreed.

"I'm going out there, too." Shanks agreed. He did not say why he was out loud, but he knew why. He wanted to go out there to make sure that Kurt wouldn't try fighting with Kyler. He turned to Victoria and shouted over the wind, "When we find them Maura and Elie, I want you to whistle so we can follow the sound. You can whistle, right?"

Victoria placed her fingers in her mouth and gave a loud, sharp whistle. Shanks nodded and ran through the open doors with Kurt and Kyler.

The wind was even worse than it looked. The wind almost blocked their vision and made it very difficult to walk, but the three managed to walk a few steps. It seemed hopeless, though. The wind was so strong and if the three, who were heavier than Maura and Elie, were having problems walking, then the two girls could have already been floating in the air far beyond their reach.

Finally, Shanks had a little idea of how to find one of the girls. If he called her a name she hated, then she might respond so he would have an idea of where to look…if she was even around. "Maura Beth!"

His plan was a success. From his left, a loud voice screamed back, "I told you not to call me Maura Beth!"

"I see her!" Kyler shouted, running in the direction of Maura's voice.

Maura was not floating up in the air. Instead, she was seated on the ground with the wind blowing back her hair, making it look like a huge flame was growing on top of her head. She started to stand up, but as soon as she was halfway up, the wind knocked her back onto her behind. Kyler had to pull her up and place her into his arms so she wouldn't go back down.

Elie, being lighter than Maura, was already about two or three inches off the ground, being carried away by the wind. The look on her face showed that she was only moderately scared at what was happening to her. Kurt had to reach forward and pull her back onto the ground and keep a tight grip on her so she wouldn't fly any farther than she already had.

"Hey, bastard! Whistle so we can get the hell out of this wind." Kyler shouted over the wind.

Shanks stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, sharp whistle. A second later, Victoria answered with another whistle.

Immediately, Kurt, Kyler, and Shanks ran to Victoria with Elie and Maura in their arms. As soon as they made it through the doors, Johnny and Larry slammed the doors shut.

Maura and Elie were placed on the ground and both started to wince as they saw Shanks, Kurt, and Kyler glaring at them.

"What the hell were you girls thinking on going out there in that weather?! You could have been carried off and probably killed!" Shanks shouted.

Kyler didn't say or do anything other than glare at Maura, but Kurt did.

No words came out of his mouth, but he did have another way to show he was ticked off. He clenched his left hand into a tight fist and gave Elie a quick, clean punch on her already bruised face. The blow wasn't really very hard. It was strong enough to knock Elie in the same position Maura had been in when both girls walked out into the wind, but not entirely strong enough to cause any more damage than a bruise.

The only thing the girls could say was, "Sorry."

After their little apology, Kyler's angry face turned into the complete opposite. His frown turned into a grin and he asked in a laid back voice, "Well, it was kinda fun out there, wasn't it?"

Maura grinned back and answered, "Totally."

Before anybody in the cafeteria could say anything, Brenda's loud voice echoed throughout the cafeteria, ordering all students, especially the students from the classroom on top of the building, and the teachers to go back to their classes so the janitors and the lunch ladies could get to work on cleaning up the mess the students made. Help was offered from multiple students and teachers, but they were turned down in case another little fight happened and caused more damage than there already was.

Manson placed a little machine that looked like a plastic white pipe and a light bulb inside in Shanks' hands, which Larry quickly confiscated and flipped it on with a switch. Now there was more light for the students that had to climb stairs instead of a dim candle and a burned out lighter.

The trip back up the stairs was a little better than it was going down. Although Lynn was starting to freak out again, nobody was playing any jokes on the others and there was more light so everyone could see the steps and the people in front of them.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Johnny asked as soon as everyone got through the door.

More rain had gotten through the broken window and entered the class along with the freezing wind. Everything was cold.

"Warming up the room I guess." Shanks answered.

Johnny nodded and led Kyler and Victoria back to the window and, with their help, began to tape up the hole again, but using more tape and parts of the white lab suit Shanks was placed in the first day he started teaching and the students took his clothes, which Kyler sliced up with the knife. The patch stayed on the window and the rain was kept out. The only problem now was how to warm up the room with now power on.

"Why don't we make a little fire by using the garbage cans?" Kyler asked.

"Because we got smoke detectors." Maura answered.

"But they never go off when you smoke." Kyler answered back.

"And we have sprinklers from the ceiling that go off when they sense smoke." Victoria answered.

"Kurt and Elie can just disable them. They've done it before…or at least Kurt has. Last year he disabled all the fire alarms and most of the school's sprinklers before he got caught."

"We don't have anything to burn." Larry added.

"Books and paper."

"We don't have anything to make a fire." Johnny said. He was telling the truth. The wind in the room blew out the flames from both candles.

"Maura has two more lighters and about three boxes of matches in her desk."

"Okay, okay. Fine. Go ahead. Kurt and Elie, disable the smoke detectors and sprinklers. You can keep whatever you take out of them." Shanks ordered.

This was an order that Kurt and Elie liked. They weren't good at repairing, but if there was something that involved stealing, they were up for it. Swiftly and silently, they took apart everything they could from the two smoke detectors and two sprinklers after they completely disabled them.

Kyler took the garbage can from next to Shanks' desk and placed in paper and wood from a few of the broken desks. Maura took her two lighters from her desk and used them to light the paper and wood aflame to get a fire started.

The garbage can fire was not a big one, but it wasn't expected to be since it was in a garbage can. At least it was starting to warm the room up even if a few of the students were not satisfied with the little warmth that was in there.

After the fire was made, Kyler moved back to the radio and started to mess with the knobs, trying to get a connection through. After the first few minutes, it was nothing but static. It seemed that no radio station was working until finally a faint connection went through. The only problem was that the woman's voice over the radio was so soft that it was difficult to hear over the static that was also coming through:

"Attention citizens of Starlight Island and Whidbey Island, this is an update on our storm. The temperature has dropped down to 26 degrees Fahrenheit and the winds have sped up to 80mph. This is NOT a tornado nor a hurricane, but that does not mean that we are safe. Do not, under ANY circumstances, go outside. Stay inside wherever you are. We expect the storm to go through the night and possibly last a few days. During this time, we advise you to stay away from any windows, do whatever you can do keep warm, and most importantly…"

That's all that came out of the radio station. Static covered the rest of it, completely blocking out the most important piece of advice. Kyler tried messing with the knobs again, but no luck. All that came out of the radio was static so there was nothing to do but turn it off.

After the radio turned off, Lynn started crying even harder than she had before, "We're all going to die here. I don't want to die! I'm only seventeen and there's so many things I haven't done yet. The school is going to collapse and kill me…I don't want to die!"

Shanks had finally had enough. He turned to Larry, who still held the flashlight, and asked, "Would you please take her out of this room and to her little friends so she'll stop crying around me. She's giving me a headache."

Larry nodded, "Sure. I think she's giving us all a headache." He opened the door and motioned for Lynn to follow him. Thankfully she did and soon she was away from the room.

Everyone else let out a breath of relief. The whole room was silent except for the small fire and the occasional tearing of paper to toss into the fire. Larry returned a few minutes later with the flashlight and without Lynn.

Nobody said anything after he got back. It was mostly because nobody really knew what to do since the students were trapped in the one place they really didn't want to hang around probably for a few days because of this storm.

"Hey, guys. The radio was talking about some place called Whidbey Island. Where is that exactly?" Shanks asked.

"It's the island to the left of us. It's bigger than Starlight Island and has more than four towns on it while we only have one. It has a way to get to the mainland and that's a huge green bridge. Our only way to the mainland is by ferryboat. My cousins Nicole and Chelsea live on Whidbey Island. It's pretty nice, but I like Starlight Island better." Victoria explained.

"Hey, why don't we tell some scary stories to pass the time?" Larry asked out of the blue.

At the same time, everyone else shrugged. Nothing better to do. They all took seats either on the floor around the fire or in desks behind the fire. It was time for the stories to begin.

_AN HOUR LATER_

"And so the young man handed the woman the sweater he got from the girl, and the woman looked at him and said 'That's impossible. My daughter was killed twenty years ago wearing this exact same sweater.'" Larry said. Nobody looked scared.

"…so?" Maura asked.

"So, the man helped the girl and she was dead! Oh, come on. Don't tell me you don't think that's scary." Larry almost shouted.

"Larry, when I was six, the mayor of my hometown was hung from the gallows in front of the women and children. Your story was not scary." Shanks said.

"Yeah, come on. You can't do any better than that?" Johnny asked.

Larry decided to start on another story, "So Ichabod Crane lived in the village of Sleepy Hollow…"

"Let me guess…he forgot his sweater." Kyler interrupted. Everybody but Larry laughed.

"Okay, fine then Kyler. If you think you can do better, you tell a story." Larry said to Kyler.

"Okay, so there was this guy that lived in New York that never told anybody his name. He was known as the mystery man. Nobody knew where he lived or if he had any family. All they knew was that he went bowling every Saturday…" Kyler started.

_FIVE MINUTES LATER_

"And then he came snuck up behind the old lady…did I mention she was dead?" Kyler asked.

"No." Victoria answered.

"Well, she was. Anyway, he snuck up behind the old lady and bashed her face in with a golf club. You know, because he went golfing every Saturday."

"You said he went bowling." Johnny said.

"Dammit!" Kyler muttered.

"Kyler, I've beaten the crap out of things scarier than that." Kurt shouted.

"Fine, you tell a story, then." Kyler shouted back.

_A FEW HOURS LATER_

Kurt did tell his story, a story about a man burned alive by a group of people and came back to kill them off by tearing out their insides and torturing them for revenge. Elie went after him and her story wasn't any better. It was just as gruesome as Kurt's if not more. Hers was about a woman haunted by a child, who hurt or killed anyone that got near the woman. Both Kurt and Elie's stories were long and very explanatory about what was happening to the people as they were killed, that the others had a hard time not throwing up.

Unfortunately, after Kurt and Elie's stories, Brenda walked up the stairs with a plastic bag with eight little boxes in them. In the boxes were sandwiches, sliced oranges, and a blue can with the word "Pepsi" written on it. This was their dinner and the only reason it was delivered to every class was because the cafeteria was still being cleaned up and Brenda didn't want to have to overlook the students to make sure they didn't cause another food fight in the cafeteria. By the time the food came, it was five o'clock.

The stories kept going on after the food and drinks were finished. Maura continued next. She, like Kyler and Larry, was not very good at telling scary stories. It wasn't because her story was boring or confusing. It wasn't. Her problem was that she meant to be scary, but her story ended up being more humorous than it was scary. Every time Maura mentioned the parts where the little girl in her story killed someone, she made it sound funny, like that of a comedy. By the end, everybody but Kurt and Elie were laughing. Apparently they didn't find it funny.

Johnny went next, telling a story called _The Tell Tale Heart_ by someone named Edgar Allan Poe. Everyone, even Johnny, agreed that it wasn't scary, but Johnny explained that it was the only thing he could come up with at the moment. "Besides, it's a good story considering it was made by a madman." Johnny said.

Shanks went next, telling a story about a pirate ship that went out at sea and after sailing for months, the ship began to sink so the only surviving pirates had to swim to a close cave, which was haunted by spirits that tortured them to death. His students thought that was about as scary as Johnny and Larry's stories.

As soon as Shanks finished his story, something from outside was carried by the wind and crashed into one of the windows, breaking it beyond patching repair. Immediately, more wind and rain entered the room, but since the fire was away from the rain and there were so many people guarding it, the wind did not blow it out.

"Okay, Victoria, you're up." Maura said to Victoria, "Give us the scariest thing you can come up with."

"Well, I do have something, but I don't think anybody will like it." Victoria started.

"Come on, tell it." Johnny said.

"Yeah, it's gotta be better than all the other stories we heard." Kyler added.

"Well, okay. In the year 1998, a group of prominent police officers, a special group that did both police and detective work, went into a mansion in the woods outside of their town. When they did not come back or contact any of the other members of their group that stayed behind to watch over things by the next day, the rest of the group went to find out what happened. After their helicopter landed, the group found the body of one of their team members that went the day before, mauled by what looked like a dog. One of the living members was searching around when he heard a noise in the bushes. He turned around and saw nothing and just as he took a breath of relief, a group of Dobermans ran up behind him. The man turned around, but before he could run, the dogs got him. The man screamed for help, but his teammates could not help him. The dogs chewed his flesh and ripped out his throat. One lone dog ran towards the others and it was then that they got a good look at the dog. It had little fur and its flesh was rotting off its body, but it was still moving as if it was still alive and healthy. All the other living officers could do was run to the mansion ahead of them as their teammate, who was flying the helicopter, flew away in fright…" Victoria started.

_ABOUT AN HOUR LATER_

"Jill released the signal flares to contact Brad to come get her, Barry, and Chris. After the flares went off, the big monster came through the open door, ready for more action. She tried to fire more bullets from her handgun at the monster, but it wouldn't work. She was out of bullets. Suddenly, Barry came up behind the monster and began firing. Jill knew she had to work fast if she wanted to save, Chris, Barry, and herself. Then, she heard the sound of a helicopter. Brad came back and to help her, he threw down a rocket launcher, ordering Jill to kill the monster and quickly. Jill knew she had to do it because the building would blow up in less than a minute. She fired a rocket at the monster and blew it up. Quickly, Chris, Barry, and Jill made it onto the helicopter just before the mansion blew up. Although they were lucky to escape with their lives, Jill knew that she and the others would be haunted by the images of all their friends and partners that were killed for many years to come." Victoria finished.

At first the room was completely silent. Finally, Shanks broke the silence, "Damn Victoria. How did you come up with something like that?"

"I actually just retold the game _Resident Evil_. A few months ago I slept over at my cousins' house on Whidbey Island and one night, my cousin Nicole had her best friend, Kristina, over and they were playing _Resident Evil_, so I watched them. It was really scary, so I just decided to put the game into the story." Victoria explained with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Well, I think that's either the scariest story we had tonight or it was tied equally with Kurt and Elie's…graphic stories." Shanks told her. He looked behind him at the clock and noticed that the clock stated that it was 5:46 and none of the hands were moving. "Anybody got a watch or something?"

Larry turned over his wrist and said loudly, "It's 8:50."

It was already 8:50pm. The wind was not letting up and neither was the rain and both showed no signs that they were planning on calming down.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Kyler asked.

Shanks shrugged, "Nothing except for telling more stories or jokes around the fire…or sleep if that's what you guys want to do."

"Do you think the storm is going to get worse?" Victoria asked timidly.

Shanks looked at her. She was scared. Her eyes and her shaking body said she was. The building was shaking even harder than it was before and the rain was coming down harder. The room was still freezing cold and it was extremely likely that things were going to get a whole lot worse.

"I don't know."

----------

A/N: Whew. That was a long one. This idea for the storm was originally going to happen later on in the chapters after something big I have planned for the later chapters was going to happen, but I decided just to make it happen now. Just to let you guys know, there is no such place (that I know about) called Starlight Island, thus it does not exist. There is, however, a place called Whidbey Island in Washington State (not D.C.) and everything described about Whidbey Island is true.

The storm that I mentioned in a way, sort of happened. In December 2006, a really bad windstorm came through Washington and Oregon. If any readers are from Washington or Oregon, they might remember this, but the winds got really high. My sister thinks it got as bad as 80 mph. My dad said it was 70 mph. Some news articles agreed with my sister, some agreed with my dad, one said the wind got up to 90 mph and another said it got as bad as 114 mph. It was recorded as the worst storm ever on Whidbey Island. It was worse in Seattle and Oregon. Some people died in the storm, mostly due to carbon monoxide poisoning when they brought grills into their houses to keep warm. Some places only had two days without power and heat while some other places had to survive with two weeks with no power and heat. It didn't happen in March, but I decided just to make up a thing with the storm that happened in December.

The thing with Carrie did happen with me back in January. We had a small windstorm that knocked out power for a few hours. I started watching the movie Carrie on TV, which I honestly don't really like, and right when the mirror broke, the power went off. Freaky, huh?

Okay, now to explain what each TV show is supposed to be:

"_Kiss my fat ass…"_ –**Tyra Banks show**

"_Welcome to The View…" _-**The View**

"_It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood…"-_**Mr. Roger's Neighborhood**

"_I'm leaving you, Stephan…"-_**soap opera**

"_BAM!..."-_**Emeril**

"_¿Gabriella, cómo SE QUE este bebé ES mío_?_..."-_**Spanish soap opera** (translation: "Gabriella, how do I know this baby is mine?")

"_Bob the Builder…"-_**Bob the Builder**

"_President Bush…"-_**news**

This chapter was mainly made for humor purposes, but I tried to get some other stuff in here like some fighting and stuff. R/R please.

Oh, and a big thank you to Krow Blood for giving me the correct Spanish way for saying "Gabriella, how do I know this baby is mine?".


	13. After the Storm

Ch. 13- After the Storm

The storytelling around the fire didn't last much longer. By about 10:00, Shanks or his students either started getting tired or they ran out of stories to tell. The building was still shaking and the wind was not letting up just like the rain, but luckily the fire was still safe even though it was small.

"So, what do we do now?" Victoria asked.

"Wanna play a game or something?" Larry asked the younger kids.

"With what? We have no power, no heat, no cards, and not enough light to play charades." Maura pointed out.

Kyler suddenly had an idea. "My guitar is leaning next to the storage room. We can play _American Idol_. Three of us can be Randy, Paula, and Simon while one of us sings either as good or bad as we want. I can provide background music if anyone wants it. I'm sure I know most songs that have been made up or at least enough for the chorus and if you guys want to make up a song, I can randomly play some notes." Kyler suggested.

At first everyone stared at him like he was either stupid or something, but then most of them just simply shrugged and agreed to play since there was nothing really better to do.

"Okay. Anyone here not seen _American Idol_?" Larry asked.

Only one person out of the eight in the classroom raised their hand and that person was Shanks.

Elie smirked at him and said with a touch of meanness in her voice, "Oh, that's right. You don't have a TV on your boat."

Shanks' eyes slanted a little, showing that he was annoyed at what she had just said, 'I told you, it's a ship…not a boat."

"Damn small for a 'ship'." Kurt responded.

"…shut up." Shanks told both Kurt and Elie. He then turned to the others and asked, "So, what's _American Idol_?"

"_American Idol_ is a show on TV where people sing in front of three judges in order to be the best and get a record deal. Sometimes the singers are bad and sing bad just to be on TV. The three judges are Paula, who is the extremely nice one; Randy, who is in between nice and mean; and Simon, the English hard-ass." Maura explained.

Kyler grabbed his guitar and began tuning it. "Okay, so who're going to be the judges first?" he asked.

"I'll be Paula." Elie said.

"I'll be Simon." Kurt responded.

"And I'll be Randy." Larry said, "Now, who's going to sing first?"

Johnny stood up, "I will."

"And what are you going to sing?"

"I will sing _I Write Sins Not Tragedies_ by Panic at the Disco." Johnny answered. He turned to Kyler and asked, "Think you can handle that?"

Kyler nodded and began to play the notes of the chorus while Johnny began to sing:

_I'd chime in with a "Haven't you people ever heard of  
__Closing the god damn door?!"  
__No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a  
__Sense of poise and rationality.  
__I'd chime in "Haven't you people ever heard of  
__Closing the god damn door?!"  
__No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a  
__Sense of...oh._

His voice was deep and a little weak, but at least he could sort of carry a tune. A couple of times his voice was wavy, but at least it looked like he was having a little bit of fun.

Kurt raised his hand in the air and Johnny stopped singing.

In an unusually nice voice, Elie spoke first, "You did a nice job, but you were a little off at times."

"Yeah dawg, you started out strong, but then, you got wavy at times." Larry added.

"I think it was a complete mess. You were weak and you are obviously not ready for this competition. Paula, what do you think?" Kurt said in a strange accent.

"It's a no for me. This competition is not right for you." Elie answered.

"Randy?"

"It's a no for me, too." Larry answered.

"No for me, too." Kurt added. "Okay, who's next?"

"I guess I am." Victoria answered.

"And what will you be singing?"

"I will be singing _When All is Said and Done_ by ABBA."

"I don't know that one." Kyler said.

"That's okay. I can do it without background music." Victoria told him. She took a deep breath and began to sing without any help.

_Here's to us, one more toast  
And then we'll pay the bill  
Deep inside, both of us  
Can feel the autumn chill  
_

It was hard to tell if Victoria was actually trying or not, but it was pretty clear that if she was trying, then she could not carry a tune. Her notes were completely pitchy and she took breaths too often.

"Stop, stop." Kurt said in his strange accent, "That was probably the most horrible thing I have ever heard."

"Oh, come on. Be nice, Simon." Elie told Kurt. She turned to Victoria and said, "You picked a very nice song, but your pitch…wasn't so nice."

"Victoria, you were so pitchy at times. It wasn't very good. I'm sorry, it's a no for me." Larry said.

"I don't know. I think she deserves another chance. I'll give her a yes."

"Paula, I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm giving her a no. Sorry, Victoria, you aren't going to Hollywood."

Victoria pretended to cry like she had when she convinced Shanks to be a part of her play.

"My turn!" Maura half shouted.

"And what are you singing?"

"_Bohemian Rhapsody_ by Queen…you can handle the chorus part, right Kyler?" Maura answered. Kyler nodded. Maura took a deep breath and began.

_Mama, just killed a man  
Put a gun against his head  
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead  
Mama, life had just begun  
But now I've gone and thrown it all away  
Mama, ooo_

It was pretty clear that Maura was trying to sound good and she did sound good. It just didn't really seem light the right type of song for her to sing…or at least that's what Shanks thought. A song about killing a man? What type of fifteen-year-old girl would sing something like that?

Maura stopped for a few seconds and nodded at Kyler. The melody suddenly sped up quite fast and she sang another verse.

_So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye-  
So you think you can love me and leave me to die-  
Oh baby-cant do this to me baby-  
Just gotta get out-just gotta get right outta here-_

As she sang, she began to dance. After that last verse, Kurt held up his hand. Both Maura and Kyler stopped what they were doing.

Elie smiled at Maura and said, "That was beautiful. I loved it. You got a yes from me."

"I have to agree with Paula. You did a great job especially with such a hard song like _Bohemian Rhapsody_. Yes from me, too." Larry answered.

"Maura, you did a nice job I'll admit, but you didn't make the song your own. However, you did do a great job, so it's a yes from me, too." Kurt answered.

"Congratulations. You're going to Hollywood!" Larry shouted.

Maura jumped up and did a fake scream of excitement and joy.

Kyler turned towards Shanks and said, "Okay, dude. Your turn to sing."

Shanks stared at him and asked, "What do you mean, my turn? I thought this was a game you kids were playing. I'm just here watching."

"But you showed some interest in it, so you have to sing. Come on. Sing anything."

Shanks thought for a moment and gave in. They were all, or at least most of them were, starting to give him some respect since he first came here. However, only one song came to his head and it was one that he was almost absolutely positive that the students wouldn't know it. It wouldn't sound right without music, so Shanks knocked a beat onto the ground and asked Kyler if he could make up a song having to deal with that beat. Kyler said he did and began to play the beat on his guitar. It sounded like the perfect background music for Shanks' song. It was now time for him to sing.

_The life of a pirate  
__Is the life for me.  
__We sail the sea with tons of ale  
__That is so strong it's hard to see.  
__And when the day turns into night  
__We make love with all of our might.  
__The night gets better as we f-_

Kyler stopped playing the guitar almost immediately. Shanks stopped singing and took a look at his students. All of them were staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths. They didn't say anything at first and Shanks had the feeling that he probably should have thought about which song to sing before deciding on that very one.

Finally, Kurt spoke up. "What the hell was that?" Kurt asked in surprise and not in the accent he had been talking in since the game had started.

"Well, it's a song my partners and I sing on our ship." Shanks explained. He wondered if that would tell his students that he was a pirate. Apparently it didn't. It meant something else.

"You sing that on your boat?" Elie asked. Shanks nodded.

"Wait, you sing that song on your ship…" Victoria started.

"Which, as far as we know is packed…" Johnny continued.

"And all of your partners are male…" Maura continued.

"That can only mean one thing…Hey, guys. We have the first gay teacher!" Kyler shouted.

Shanks stared at him in surprise. Rather than assume he was a pirate like he said in the song, they all practically assumed he was gay. "I'm not gay!" He said truthfully.

The class, even Kurt and Elie, laughed at him and at the same time said sarcastically, "Right."

After Shanks' song, it was almost 10:30 and because of that last song, nobody really wanted to play _American Idol_ anymore so Kurt, Elie, Larry, and Kyler never got around to singing their songs, whatever they would turn out to be. By now, most of the class was starting to grow a little tired.

Larry took a spot in one of the desks by the fire and almost immediately fell asleep. Kurt and Elie sat on the shelf next to each other and took out flasks and began to drink out of them. Johnny sat on the floor and leaned against the wall, falling asleep slowly. Victoria, though she was also tired, took a few sheets of paper that were not thrown into the fire and began to draw on them with a nearby sharpened pencil. Kyler still had his guitar in his hands, but was strumming a few soft chords, making a soft melody while sitting on the ground in front of the fire. Maura sat next to Kyler and while throwing a few papers into the fire, took out one of her cigarettes, lit it with her lighter, and began to smoke.

Shanks was not exactly happy with what Kurt, Elie, and Maura were doing. Two of his rules were no drinking and no smoking and though he couldn't see what was in the flasks, he had a good feeling that it was some sort of alcohol…what else could make Kurt and Elie fall asleep quickly after drinking what was in the flasks? Some of the crew members on his ship did that, too, after drinking a certain alcohol. The crewmates called it, the "Bedtime Drink".

"Maura, put out that cigarette." Shanks ordered Maura.

Maura shook her head and took a drag, "Leave me alone. I haven't had a smoke all day."

Shanks rolled his eyes and decided to let her win this battle. She already sounded tired and would probably only be smoking for a few minutes. He turned to Kyler and asked, "So, Kyler. That song you're playing. Does it have any words to it?"

Kyler nodded and kept playing, "It does have words, but I can't remember them."

"Yeah, it's a really pretty song. It was made up by a local Starlight Islander named Elaina Everlasting." Victoria asked as she drew. She took a deep breath and began to sing some of the words.

_The stars that shine brightly  
__Throughout the dark sky  
__Tells us a story  
__That could make you cry._

Victoria's voice sounded a little different than it did when she was playing _American_ _Idol_. It still very bad and extremely pitchy, but at least now it was more aware that Victoria was trying to sing the song even though she couldn't carry a tune. She sang the song softly, though, so it was hard to be certain if it sounded better or worse than when she was playing the game.

Maura took a drag from her cigarette before putting it out. She took a deep breath and began to sing along with Victoria, both singing softly so that they would not wake up those that were already asleep. The sound of Maura's singing made Victoria's singing sound a lot better.

_The night sky is a map  
__Where clouds love to roam.  
__The stars will shine brightly  
__And guide me back home…_

That seemed to do it. It might have been the song or the combination of the girls' singing and Kyler's playing, but before the song was even finished, Shanks managed to fall asleep peacefully from his spot on the floor. As he slept, he dreamt of how badly he wished to leave this island and these kids. Sure, they were starting to respect him a little, but that didn't mean that he liked them. He still thought of at least most of them as little hellraisers. So far, only Johnny and Victoria proved him wrong with the hellraiser part.

_2:15 AM_

When Shanks woke up, it was about 2:15 in the morning, or at least somewhere around that time. All of his students were all sleeping. Larry was sitting in his desk with his arms on the top part of the desk and his head buried into it. Kurt and Elie were leaning against each other with their flasks in their hands. Victoria was leaning against Johnny with her head on his shoulder and her papers in her hands. Kyler's guitar was no longer in his hands and he was no longer on the floor. His guitar was replaced with Maura and his spot on the floor was replaced with a spot in the closest desk to the fire. Maura was sleeping on Kyler's lap with her head on his chest. The garbage can fire was almost out.

The room was full of noises: the wind that came into the room, soft breathing from those that slept, snoring, and the voices of someone talking in their sleep. The snoring came from Larry, but despite the fact that it was sort of muffled due to his head being buried by his arms, the snoring was still loud and quite annoying. Strangely enough, the other students were unphased by this and kept on sleeping.

Victoria was the one that was talking in her sleep, which surprised Shanks because he assumed that one of the other girls would be talking in her sleep. The words Victoria got out were completely muffled and thus, unable to be understood, but it seemed that she was having some sort of nightmare the way she was shaking and talking in her sleep. Shanks let out a yawn and went back to sleep.

_7AM_

It was around 7:00 in the morning when the door to the classroom opened up. Shanks immediately woke up to the sound and turned his head to the doorway. Standing there were two kids with dark hair. "Who are you?" Shanks asked.

"We're here to pick up Victoria." One of the kids, a girl answered before walking to Victoria and shaking her saying, "Toria, time for you to go home."

"Who are you?" Shanks asked again.

This time, the second kid, a boy, answered, "Anna and Keith, Victoria's brother and sister. The wind cleared up, so Manson wants everyone to go home. School's closed today because there's still no power and the wind is rumored to pick up again tonight."

Victoria opened her eyes and sleepily grabbed her bag and followed the boy and girl out of the room.

Shanks took this opportunity to wake up the others and get them out of this building before he had to spend another day and night with them. He grabbed a nearby yardstick and smacked it on a hard surface near each and every one of his students, causing all of them to wake up quickly. "Okay guys, time to go home. The wind is good enough for you to drive home."

Slowly, the students yawned and packed up their belongings.

"Hey Kurt, can you give us all a ride home since we don't have cars?" Johnny asked.

"I'll give you ten bucks." Kyler added.

"Show me the money." Kurt commanded. Kyler handed Kurt a green piece of paper. Kurt took it and said, "Fine, but you're all in the back." With that, everyone left the room and the building all together.

The outside of the school was a complete mess. Leaves, branches, balls, and garbage was everywhere around the front. Most of the cars were gone, but those that were still around were dented due to the storm. Larry hopped onto a motorized bicycle and quickly sped off. All the others moved into Kurt's truck…or that is to say that Kurt and Elie were inside the truck. Shanks, Johnny, Kyler, and Maura were in the back of the truck.

Surprisingly, this time Kurt didn't speed up when he left the school. It would be too dangerous if he did. Trees were everywhere. On the sidewalk, the streets, on cars, through telephone wires, and even on top of houses. Things were a complete mess. There wasn't a single yard that wasn't messy.

Johnny was dropped off first. All the shingles from his roof were scattered all over the ground and there were branches and garbage all over his yard. After Kyler and Maura said a "good-bye" to him, Johnny hopped off of the back of the truck and through the door of his house.

The next stop was Maura and Kyler's houses since they both lived next door to each other. The soccerball in Kyler's house was nowhere to be seen. The steel pole for Kyler's mailbox was bent backwards. The wooden gate leading to the backyard of Maura's house was broken. Two miniature bird houses in both yards were broken on the ground. Both yards were covered in tree branches, pine needles, and bird seed from the broken bird houses. Maura and Kyler waved good-bye after they left the truck and headed into their own houses.

Elie, since her house was closer was dropped off next. Her apartment complex looked the least damaged. There were pine needles everywhere, some of the apartments had broken windows and walls due to trees and rocks, and some of the cars were dented, but the wind managed to clean the beer cans and condoms and their wrappers out of the bushes and send them somewhere else. Elie said something to Kurt before heading into her apartment and didn't say or do a thing to Shanks.

The marina was quite a mess. Some little boats were sunk, garbage was in the streets and the ocean, there were dead birds all over the sidewalk, and some cars were tipped onto their sides.

Thankfully, Shanks' ship and crewmates survived the storm with minor damage. There were a few holes in the ship, but they were tiny and easily fixable. The worst damage the crew had were small cuts and bruises and every single member was back from their jobs. The inside of the ship was a completely different story. During the storm, the ship rocked around so much that most of the dishes broke and some of the barrels of alcohol tipped over and spilled on the floor of the ship. Until it was all cleaned up, all matches and anything that involved fire were banned. The floor of the ship was also a mess of books, garbage, and other little things that were laying on tables, shelves, and beds. It was a bigger mess than the streets outside.

It took hours just to clean up the inside of the ship and repair the outside, but it was finished before it began to rain. As the pirates worked on the ships, Shanks entertained them about the game he played with his students and the song he sung. They laughed even harder when he said that the class did not think he was pirate, but rather that he was gay, which was actually untrue. A slight wind came later on that night, but nothing too serious. Despite the rumors, the storm did not come back. The wind was nothing more than a little breeze, just strong enough to create small waves to hit against the side of the ship

The wind was now completely gone by the next day and half of the island had power. Some of the streets weren't cleaned up and the school and the businesses downtown were closed due to repairs. Apparently most of the buildings downtown had broken windows and damaged merchandise and could not be opened until the mess was cleaned up.

When the school and the rest of the businesses in town opened up, it was Friday, the last day of the week for his students to go to school. The streets were now starting to dry and the only wind that came was the normal wind that came around the marina, but it wasn't a very strong wind. In fact, it was pretty warm for an afterstorm, which actually felt pretty nice.

The school was filled with students like it normally was, so the halls were not at all quiet. The inside was also warmed up by running heaters, possibly to make up for the two days with rain, wind, and no heat.

His classroom surprised him the most. The broken window Lynn made was replaced with a brand new window with not even a little crack in it. All of the desks were replaced with desks that looked new. The books that were on the shelf under the window were dried out. Larry and Lynn were not in the room, but the other students were and they looked just as surprised.

"It's weird. The school never cares about us." Kyler said.

"Our art cupboard even has paints, new art supplies, and chalk." Victoria explained.

"All of our desks even have our stuff moved into them. Maura's cigarettes and lighters are even there." Johnny explained.

"Yeah." Maura agreed. She walked over to the desk in the middle of the room with a little paper sign with the name "MAURA" written in green marker on it. Once there, she opened up the desk and brought out a pack of cigarettes. She took one of the cigarettes out of the package and lit it before taking a puff.

"Maura, remember the rule I made about smoking?" Shanks asked her.

"Yeah."

"So, why are you breaking the rule?"

"Look, if you're like our last teachers that made up the rule that you can only do something if you brought enough of them to share with the other classmembers, then I have more than enough cigarettes to split with the class." Maura explained.

"That's not why I made up the rule. I did it so I can make sure that nobody else in this class suffers from second-hand smoke." Shanks explained, "Besides, you're too young to smoke."

"Awww…thanks for the concerns." Maura said in a sarcastically sweet voice. Her voice then changed to her normal speaking voice, "You should take this up with the guy on your 'ship' that happens to be smoking if you're so damn worried about second hand smoke."

Shanks rolled his eyes and plucked the cigarette from her mouth with his fingers and ground it to the floor with his heel. It was now time for him to give her an order, "Give me the cigarettes…all of them. You can keep the lighters and matches, but I want all of those cigarettes." Maura didn't move. Shanks simply pushed her out of the way and opened up the desk with his one arm. Inside the desk, mixed in with lighters, matches, a box of candy, a book titled _Yotsuba&_, and a small machine with headphones were about five packs of cigarettes. He wasn't surprised with the cigarettes, in fact, he expected her to have more than five packs.

Without saying another word, Shanks gathered up all five packs and placed them in his desk at the front while ignoring the scowl Maura was giving him. He turned his head towards the blackboard. The blackboard had writing on it that wasn't his. It was in an unrecognizable handwriting and in blue chalk. The letters said, "OLD DESKS ARE IN STORAGE ROOM. PLEASE DO NOT BREAK NEW DESKS OR WINDOW."

"So, nobody has any idea who made these changes?" Shanks asked the class. In unison, they shook their heads. They had no clue.

Larry and Lynn came inside not long afterwards and both seemed just as surprised as everyone else was at the changes done to the classrom. Actually, Larry looked surprised. Lynn was angry.

"What the? How come this room is full of new things while the others aren't? There are plenty of normal classrooms filled with normal people, so why did the class of weirdos get new things?" Lynn complained.

"Lynn, you do realize that you are in this class, too so you basically insulted yourself." Elie pointed out.

Lynn's face reddened. It was true. Lynn was still stuck in the class despite the fact that she had been bragging that she would be out of it in a week and therefor had insulted herself as she insulted the class. "Shut up, you little bitch!" Lynn shouted at Elie.

Elie's blue eyes pierced into Lynn's. An angry look was formed onto her face and she showed no signs of making a joke. "You want to say that again?" Elie dared.

"I said 'shut up' to you, midget!" Lynn said.

Slowly, Elie started moving towards Lynn. Quickly, the other students, all but Kurt, began backing away from both Elie and Lynn.

"Apparently Lynn forgot the biggest rule of _Morning Glory High_: Keep away and do not insult Kurt Weber and Elie Morrow." Kyler explained to Shanks. "Trust me, it's not pretty. It's even worse when both of them go against one person."

Kurt placed his hands on Elie's shoulders, stopping her. "Don't bother with her. She's not worth it." he simply told his cousin. Elie nodded and started to walk away from Lynn.

Lynn didn't stop what she was doing. In fact, she made things worse by putting Kurt into her insults, too. "Yeah, that's right, Elie. You just walk away like the little wuss you've always been and take your pansy-ass cousin with you."

Immediately, both Kurt and Elie glared at Lynn. Both of them began heading towards Lynn with their hands clenched into tight fists.

An uneasy feeling overcame Shanks as he watched the two cousins walk towards Lynn. Sure he had been giving them lessons on fighting and they weren't able to beat him in a fight, but this was Lynn, a girl who couldn't even dodge simple punches. He turned to Kyler, Maura, Johnny, Victoria, and Larry, who were standing next to him and asked, "Are they going to hit her?"

"Elie will." Victoria answered.

"And what about Kurt?"

"Kurt doesn't hit girls except for when he doing some fighting like you had him do a few days ago to test Maura's ability to dodge punches." Johnny answered.

"Well, I guess that's good."

"But he does something else." Johnny added.

"What does he do?"

Shanks found out just seconds later. First, like Victoria had said, Elie started punching Lynn and naturally, Lynn did not dodge the punches. Lynn stumbled backwards, tumbling over random desks, before she finally laid a blow upon Elie's cheek, a little slap.

"Ooh boy. Lynn's going to get it now." Kyler said.

It was now Kurt's turn to act. He ran up behind Lynn and grabbed her arms. He then held her where she stood while holding her hands up in the air so she couldn't make another swing. It was now Elie's turn to punch all she wanted at Lynn.

With each punch that was given, Lynn let out a loud scream of pain and fear. It was almost unbearable to watch and what made it even worse was the fact that no matter how many times Lynn cried for Elie and Kurt to stop, they kept on attacking her.

Shanks turned to the rest of his students. Not one of them tried to move to stop the fighting. He hadn't expected Maura to move as she and Lynn were complete enemies, but Larry surprised him.

"Ummm…guys? Elie's not going to kill her is she?" Shanks asked.

"If she does then it's a first." Maura simply answered.

Lynn let out another loud scream and then blood came…and it wasn't blood from Kurt or Elie. Shanks couldn't tell where on Lynn the blood came from, but one thing was for certain: the fight had to end quickly before something bad happened. Besides, because of the fact that Elie started fighting with Lynn, some of the desks were being moved around and would probably break if Elie remembered her lesson from a few days ago.

Shanks ran up to the three and, with two quick movements, kicked both Kurt and Elie to opposite sides of the room. Kurt released Elie as soon as he was kicked. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Shanks shouted.

Lynn fell to the ground on her knees with her hand covering her mouth and nose. Blood came through her fingers and she was shaking terribly. She mumbled something that Shanks could not hear. When he knelt down to her height, he was able to hear her saying, "They were trying to kill me…"

Shanks used his one hand to move Lynn's from her face. A small fountain of blood was coming from both her mouth and her nose and she needed a nurse or something. Unfortunately, the only nurse Shanks knew was the one that injured her in the first place. "Is there a nurse in this building?" Shanks asked the students that didn't fight. They all pointed at Elie. "A better nurse?" he asked.

"The school nurse is on the first floor." Larry answered.

"Good. Larry, since you're the oldest, can you carry Lynn down to that nurse? I think Lynn has a broken nose and some broken teeth." Shanks requested.

Larry nodded and scooped Lynn up in his arms. By this time, she was starting to cry like she did during the storm. However, this time, rather than crying about dying, she was crying about how horrible she would look and begged Larry not to bring her down the halls to the nurse, especially since the bell hadn't even rung for school to begin and all of her friends, plus other students of the school were still in the halls and would see her. Larry ignored Lynn's begging and walked out the door. By this time, her begging had turned into screaming and kept getting louder as she was brought down the stairs.

Shanks placed his hand on his now throbbing forhead. _This is just great. I be at school for less than ten minutes and I already a fight goes on that gives me a headache. This is day one all over again. _Shanks said silently. Hopefully, this day would not get any worse than it already was.

----------

A/N: Okay, there's chapter 13. I put _American Idol_ in this because when I was first writing this chapter, I was watching _American Idol_ on TV and I decided to make a little game out of it involving American Idol (love the show, but in my opinion, they chose some pretty bad singers to be in the top 24 this season).

Shanks' song is my own…or at least the words (or all but the first two lines) are my own and I'm pretty sure you guys know what that cut off word is. Also, no I do not think that Shanks is gay. It's just going to be a little joke (so please Shanks fans, do not get mad at me for that). There is also no person (that I know of) named Elaina Everlasting and the song she made up is my own creation. All the other songs are not my own. If any of you guys have heard the song _Bohemian Rhapsody_, then you'll know that I actually skipped a couple of verses.

Also, about Kyler's story in chapter 12, I'm surprised that some of you knew that it was from Homer's story in _The Simpsons_ during one of the treehouse of horrors. I didn't think that many people would see that. Larry's story was from Eric's story in the Halloween episode of _That 70's Show_ where the gang goes to their old abandoned school.

Thank you all so much for your reviews and e-mails/PMs. You have been so nice to me and I really appreciate it. I actually didn't expect to get as much feed back or as much positive feedback as I got now. Thank you guys again.


	14. The Trip to the Woods

Ch. 14- The Trip to the Woods

"What the hell's the matter with you two?!" Shanks shouted at Kurt and Elie, "She was bleeding and you still held her down and hit her."

"She asked for it." Elie answered.

"And she deserved it." Kurt added.

"Listen, you two: I don't want you to do any fighting without me telling you, especially when your opponent is bleeding. You got that?" Shanks ordered.

Elie and Kurt grunted, but didn't give an actual answer.

"I said, 'you got that?'"

"Fine. Whatever." Both of them answered.

"Good." Shanks turned his attention to all of the students that were in the room, "Now I want all six of you to find your desks and sit in them."

At almost the same time, all of the students rolled their eyes and sat in their own desks. All of the occupied desks were split apart from everyone else, much to the student's disapproval and though they were new, the seats of the desks' chairs were very hard, harder than the ones on the old desks. Most of the students were fidgeting in their seats, trying to get comfortable.

"These desks suck." Kyler shouted, "I don't give a damn if they are new."

"Well, you're going to have to deal with them for the time being." Shanks said to him.

Then the bell rang. Manson's voice came through the intercom, asking the class to stand and say "The Pledge of Allegiance." None of the class members stood up. After the pledge, an announcement came over the intercom:

_Welcome back students. Today is Friday, March 9th and the weather outside is damp, but warm. I'm sure you realize all the changes made to the classrooms and we apologize for some of the clubs that were not able to go on in the three days we had no power. All clubs will continue on as normal in their usual places. All tryouts for the end of the year play **The Saviour in Blue** will be held after school in the cafeteria. Have a nice day._

The announcement ended and it was time for the day to officially begin.

"Okay, children. The announcements are over, so now it's time for us to continue from yesterday's lessons. Since the weather is nicer, we will be taking our fighting lessons outside and we will finally get around to Victoria's control over the Kaze Kaze no Mi. Today's lesson will be subtraction since we have not gotten around to it yet." Shanks announced. He was answered with a bunch of groans from the occupied desks. "Shut up. Now, any questions?"

Victoria raised her hand, "Mr. Shanks, before we do anything else, could we please change desks?"

"Why? What's wrong with where you're sitting?" Shanks asked.

"Well, I just would feel more comfortable sitting next to somebody else." Victoria explained.

Shanks looked at the desks and nodded. "Okay. Everybody stand up and take some pencils and papers with you." All of them obeyed him. "Good. Victoria, your new spot is in the far left desk in the second row. Elie, you will sit next to her. Kyler, you're sitting in the front row, second desk to the right. Maura, you will sit in the far back row, second desk to the right. Kurt, you will sit in front of her. Johnny, you will sit to the left of Kurt. When Larry and Lynn come back, I will pick spots for them."

The students grumbled due to the fact that they were not satisfied with their news spots, but after realizing that it seemed better than their original spots, they went to their new spots and sat down.

"Hey, I can't see! Johnny and Kurt are taller than me!" Maura shouted from her new desk.

"Tough shit. You wanted a new desk, so I got you one." Shanks simply told her. He turned to the others in the desks, "Anybody else have a problem with where they're sitting?"

Victoria, Kyler, Elie, Kurt, and Johnny raised their hands.

"Tough shit. I moved you to new spots, so that's where you're stuck sitting." Shanks told them. At the same time, they groaned.

Shanks ignored them and turned back to the blackboard. "Now, subtraction is a little more difficult than addition. Rather than adding onto numbers, you take away from them. If you take the number 2 and subtract, or take away, 2, you do not end up with 4 like you would in addition. You would end up with zero because you would take away all the numbers. If you take a number and subtract zero, the number would stay the same since you have not taken away anything. I hope you're all taking notes on this because there is going to be a test."

About four minutes into the lesson, the door to the class opened and in walked Larry and Lynn. Larry looked about the same as he did when he left but with a tired look on his face. The blood was washed from Lynn's hands and face. A bandage was covering her nose and a cut was formed on Lynn's lip. She was silently crying.

"Welcome back." Shanks told them. He turned his attention to Larry and asked, "So, how bad was it?"

"She screamed the entire way down to the nurse's office, but all she got was a bloody nose and few cuts on her lip when she bit down on it but nothing serious." Larry explained.

Shanks nodded, "Okay. Well, we changed seats, so Larry, I want you sitting to the right of Kurt…" Larry sat down in the desk.

"You son-of-a…I can't see a damn thing on the board now!" Maura shouted from her spot.

Shanks ignored her and looked around the room for a spot for Lynn. _Hmmm…I don't want to put her anywhere near Maura or Elie. She won't be any better sitting by Kyler, so…yes, maybe that could work._ "Lynn, I want you to sit in the front row, farthest desk to the left…or the desk with your name on it. You're the only one in the class that isn't changing spots."

Lynn, though she was still crying, walked to her seat and sat down. Shanks continued his lesson.

"Now, there will be some numbers that are too big to subtract. Those are called Negative Numbers. If you take 5 and minus 8, you will get a negative 3. Normally, real life doesn't worry about negatives unless you're using it in science, but if you're trying to live like a normal, average person, then negatives shouldn't bother you. All you will need to know is that if the second number is bigger than the first and it is subtracted, then it will most definitely be negative. Any questions?" Nobody said anything. "Good. I guess you'll be ready for the test tomorrow then." Shanks looked outside of the window. There was a small wooded area outside of the school. Perhaps it would be a good way for the class to practice their fighting without being noticed by anybody else in the school. "What's the wooded area used for anyway?" Shanks asked.

"It's used for the students who are taking Backpacking and Survival. They go out there so they can learn how to survive in the wilderness with nothing but a backpack. They also build campfires, learn what wood and plants are used for burning, and how to signal for help if they need it." Victoria explained, "But the class is usually taken around 11:00 or somewhere in the afternoon, so the woods should be free."

"How do you know that?" Shanks asked out of curiosity.

"My sister, Anna, takes Backpacking and Survival around 11:00. My brother, Keith, takes it around 1:15pm." Victoria explained.

"Okay. Well, then it seems like the woods is free and the weather is better, so we're all going out there to do some fighting with things harder than a desk. Let's get going." Nobody moved. "Well, I guess we could all stay here and I can sing you guys more songs that I sing with my partners." That got everyone to stand up and walk out the door. "Oh, come on! My singing's not that bad!" Shanks shouted after them as he walked down the stairs.

"That may be true," Johnny answered, "But the thing we don't want to hear is any more of those gay songs."

"Not all of the songs we know are gay and the ones that are gay, we don't sing." Shanks told him, "In fact, most of them are mostly about piracy and drinking."

"So, you're pretending to be a pirate in order to hide your homosexuality?" Johnny asked.

"I told you already: I'm not gay." Shanks said as the class walked out the door and to the wooded area.

"Right."

The conversation between Shanks and his students continued on like that until they were finally in the wooded area, away from any other person in the school. Almost immediately, most of the students went running off in different directions. Kyler and Johnny picked up average sized branches and pretended to sword fight with them. Maura climbed onto a rock and began leaping gracefully onto the other rocks. Victoria took a stick and began to draw a little on the earth. Larry walked around for about a minute before Maura jumped on him from behind and tackled him to the ground, laughing the entire time. Kurt stood in front of a large tree without saying or doing anything. Lynn looked into a discarded metallic plate, crying about the way her face looked. Elie was nowhere to be seen.

The first thing Shanks had to do was quiet everyone down and since Lynn was closer, she was the first person to calm down. "Come on, Lynn. It doesn't look that bad. I'm sure you can take the bandages off soon and you can put make-up on your lips to hide the cuts. Nobody's ever going to notice." he said in his nicest voice. It didn't help any. She was still crying and staring deeply into the plate.

"You're both acting like children." Victoria said from behind Shanks.

Shanks turned around and saw Victoria looking at Larry and Maura. Larry was now onto his feet with Maura on the upper part of his back. He was moving around wildly while the girl held on with her feet dangling in the air. Larry smirked at Victoria and before anybody could say anything, he ran up behind her, grabbed her by the shirt, and lifted her up over his head with his left hand clutching her shirt and his right hand rested on her tailbone for balance. Victoria was screaming and moving around with Larry, but also laughing along with Maura.

From about three feet away from Larry, Kyler and Johnny were continuing their little sword/stick fight. Both boys were laughing as they swung their "swords" at each other and either hit the other "sword" or hit the air. Finally, Johnny's "sword" hit Kyler in the rib, causing the boy to fall to the ground.

"And I win." Johnny told Kyler.

Kyler smirked, "The hell you do!" Before Johnny could say anything, Kyler hopped onto his feet and tackled Johnny to the ground like Maura had done to Larry. However, unlike Maura and Larry, the boys didn't laugh it off. They actually started hitting each other.

"Okay, guys. That's enough!" Shanks shouted at them. They didn't stop. "I mean it! That's enough!" Still nobody listened to him.

Kyler and Johnny started moving as they hit each other and they got dangerously close to Larry, Victoria, and Maura and if the two boys kept moving, they would knock into Larry, which would cause him to lose his grip on Victoria and drop her to the ground and he could fall backwards and crush Maura, injuring both girls in the process.

Shanks placed his fingers into his mouth and made the same loud, sharp whistle he used when he went to rescue Elie and Maura from the storm. Almost immediately, the five stopped what they were doing. "Larry, put her down." Shanks ordered Larry.

"Which one?" Larry asked, indicating at both Victoria and Maura.

"Both of them. I don't want to have to deal with their parents if they get hurt. It's bad enough that I'm stuck dealing with them already."

"Fine." Larry said. "Sorry girls, but fun time's over." He carefully placed Victoria on the ground while Maura released her grip from Larry and hopped onto her feet.

"And as for you two…" Shanks turned his attention at Kyler and Johnny, "If you want to do sword fighting rather than fist fighting, then I'll teach you that stuff before you go around acting like jackasses and injuring each other."

"Yeah yeah." Both boys said gloomily.

Shanks looked around the area. Someone was still missing. "Okay, where's Elie?"

Without saying anything, Kurt pointed up at the tree branches above him. At first Shanks couldn't see anything, but when he walked next to Kurt and looked up, he saw Elie, sitting calmly on the tree branches above. "Elie! Get down from there!" Shanks shouted.

Elie shrugged and hopped off the branch. She fell about three feet before landing on Shanks' shoulders, causing him to fall the rest of the five feet to the ground.

"That wasn't what I meant." Shanks told Elie after she got off of him.

"You should have told me to climb back down." Elie simply told him.

Shanks chose to ignore her comment as he got back onto his feet. "Okay, everyone. Today we will be doing some more fighting. We will start with Victoria." Shanks announced to the others. Finally, he turned his attention to Victoria only. "You have the power to control the wind and you can use that to your own advantage. You can make the wind do anything you want it to do. You can make gusts of wind that do the same damage as swords. You can make the wind carry light items to use as a distraction on your opponent. You can even make a wind barrier if you want to. All you need to do is practice and can get it done and I'll be here to help you every step of the way."

"Mr. Shanks, if it doesn't bother you, I would rather not use my wind powers as a weapon, but I am up to using the powers for a barrier." Victoria explained timidly.

"Okay. Today's lesson is the barrier move. Just for a head's up: I don't have any powers, but I have been around those that do have powers and I think I can help you with all I know." Shanks told Victoria, "Now, I want you to do what I told everyone else in the class to do a few days ago before they attacked the desks. Close your eyes and forget about everything. Pretend that nobody is there but you."

Victoria took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her eyebrows twitched a little as she attempted to forget all of her troubles.

"Now, think of what you want to do with your powers. You want to make a barrier, so think of a wall to protect you." Shanks told her. "Can you visualize it?"

Victoria's eyebrows twitched more as she attempted to visualize a wall. She could visualize something, but wasn't sure if it was a wall. "I think I can."

"Don't think. You have to know." Shanks told her.

"I can see it now." Victoria answered as soon as she was able to visualize a wall of wind.

"Good. Now, open your eyes and keep thinking about the wall. Your barrier should be up soon." Shanks told her.

Victoria opened her eyes and kept her concentration on making her wall of wind. She had almost got the move down when her concentration was broken when she started laughing.

"Victoria! What the hell was that?!" Shanks shouted at the laughing girl.

"It's not my fault, Mr. Shanks. Kyler's making faces at me." Victoria laughed, pointing at Kyler.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Victoria." Kyler said in a fake-innocent voice.

"Kyler, knock it off!" Shanks shouted at Kyler. "Okay, Victoria. Let's try it again."

"I…can't." Victoria was still laughing.

"Oh, for the love of…well, there is another way to get your barrier up." Shanks grumbled. He walked away from Victoria and picked up an average sized rock off the ground. Then, without any warnings, he threw it at the girl at a rather fast speed.

Victoria let out a little scream and closed her eyes. She felt a gust of wind coming around her body and heard a dull thump of the rock hitting something that was surrounding her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Kyler, Johnny, and Larry, and Maura staring at her with wide eyes and mouths. She could not see what was surrounding her, but could still feel the gusts. Kurt picked up another rock and threw it at Victoria. That's when she saw what was surrounding her. She made her barrier even if she couldn't see it and it was made when she was afraid.

Victoria blinked and took a deep breath. Her body and mind started to calm down and her body began to calm down. The wind stopped and her barrier disappeared. "I did it." she said calmly and with a smile on her face.

Shanks couldn't help but to smile back at her. "You did good. Next time I'll teach you how to fight with the wind. Believe it or not, you'll have to fight sometimes." Shanks' smile went away and he turned towards Kyler and Johnny. "Now, as for you two. You want to sword fight? We'll sword fight then." Shanks picked up a nearby stick and held it in front of him like a sword, "Come at me with everything you got!"

Kyler and Johnny grabbed the sticks they were originally fighting with and, at the same time, ran at their teacher with the sticks swinging. Both were blocked by Shanks' "sword" and were even knocked back a few feet. They tried running back at him again, Kyler from the front of Shanks and Johnny from behind. Again, they were both blocked and knocked back. After their fourth attempt, both boys felt a stick hit them on the head rather. Johnny and Kyler let out cries of surprise and let go of their sticks. They seemed to have done worse with their little "sword fighting" than they did when they were practicing with the sticks.

"You guys suck. You should stick to soccer and repairing things or at least fist fighting if you have to fight." was all Shanks told them. He turned to everyone else and said, "Okay. For the other fighters, get ready to fight something harder than desks."

"What? Rocks?" Elie asked.

"Not that hard. Looks like we got some trees. We're going to take care of the fallen ones. Listen to this." Shanks walked over to a fallen tree and knocked on it three times. A dull sound came from the knocks. "It's not hollow, so it's going to be a little harder to attack. Unfortunately, I don't think you're ready to attack it from down the middle, so I want you to take the branches. They aren't as thick as the actual tree, but they are still long and thick. I don't want you using your hands except if you punch the branches. You can take the body of the tree if you want, but I don't recommend it unless it's Kurt since he has the biggest muscles. Maura, I want you to stand on the tree and dance across it. It will ensure your balance and when some of your other classmates will swing at you so you can dodge them. Just remember, take the advantage of fighting back even if you don't go much damage."

Like with the desk fighting a few days earlier, nobody seemed to argue or be hesitant. Kyler, Johnny, Larry, and Elie ran to the thickest branches they could find while Kurt attempted to break the tree from the middle. Maura climbed on top of the tree and began to walk down, half dancing and half walking. A few times the other fighters stopped what they were doing and took a swing at her with their fists or legs and she was able to dodge them. Whenever she could, she aimed a kick at those that swung at her. She mostly missed, but she took the opportunity at least.

The fighters stopped after fifteen minutes. Kyler, Johnny, Larry, and Elie had all broken their branches with their fists and legs. Kurt had not broken through the middle although he did manage to crack some of it. When the first four had broken what they were ordered to, they ran off into different parts of the wooded area. Kyler and Johnny returned to the left of the fallen tree, picked up two sticks, and restarted their little "swordfight". Elie returned to another nearby tree and scurried up like a monkey. Maura hopped back on Larry's back and placed her chin over his left shoulder and grinned. Only Kurt stayed where he was.

Shanks turned his head towards Victoria and saw her with a stick in her hand, drawing in the dirt. She was drawing Larry and the grinning Maura on his back. It didn't look as good as her drawings normally would if they had been on paper with a pencil or pen, but it was still pretty good for being drawn into the dirt and surrounded by twigs and rocks.

Shanks let out a groan. He was back at the beginning again. Nobody wanted to listen. In fact, it seemed like all they wanted to do was play games. That or cry, which is what Lynn was still doing. He tried ordering Elie to climb back down the tree, but she refused. He would have climbed up after her, but the problem was that the all the strong branches of the tree were closer to the top, where Elie was seated and it wasn't easy to climb with only one arm. Plus, his weight would likely break the branches.

After twenty minutes of unsuccessfully trying to quiet down the rest of the class, Shanks chose to give up. He seemed to be doing better in the classroom than he was in the wooded area even though he finally got around to helping Victoria with some of her powers. "Okay, guys. Let's go back inside!" he called to the rest of his students. "We got work to take care of."

Kyler and Johnny looked at each other, shrugged, and tossed their sticks to the ground. Victoria stood up from her crouched position and dropped her stick. Maura climbed off of Larry's back. Elie leapt out of the tree and into her cousin's arms. All of the students followed Shanks back into the classroom.

Once the rest of the students and Shanks entered the class, they found that somebody was already in there. It was the boy in black that talked about sinning and wrote the confusing message on the blackboard last week. The boy smiled at everyone and said calmly, "Welcome back, children of God."

"Oh great. Father Alexander is back." Maura groaned.

"You guys know who he is?" Shanks asked the class.

"His name is Ian Alexander, but everyone in the school calls him 'Father Alexander'. He's a senior at the school and he wants to be a priest when he graduates. To show that he does, he often leaves his classes shouting praises at students and trying to convert them to Catholicism." Johnny explained.

"Look, we don't give a damn about God or religion, so get the hell out of here!" Kyler shouted.

"That is the devil speaking out of your body. Come, follow me into God's great light so you can be saved from eternal damnation." The boy, Ian, said loudly and a little too nicely.

"You have five seconds to get the hell out of here before we kick your ass out of here." Maura told him.

Ian looked a little uncomfortable, but rather than leave, he took a cross out from under his black shirt and held it in front of himself in self defense. It wasn't until a punch from Elie hit him in the cheek that he started running out of the room. He was lucky that he ran when he did. Johnny, Kyler, Maura, and Kurt were about to give him a punch, too and there would have been quite some damage done if they would have gotten to do what they planned.

Shanks wasn't upset with what Elie had done because honestly, he would have done the same thing, too. He came across peacemakers and religious people and though they were harmless, they were very very annoying, so annoying that a couple of times he beat the crap out of them himself. This "Father Alexander" was no different than the ones that he came across back at the sea.

The rest of the day went on like what happened back in the wooded area. None of his students were listening to him. Johnny was taking out a weird machine, which looked like some sort of automatic machine gun, and explaining to an interested Victoria what it did and how it worked. Kyler was seated in his seat with Maura on his lap. He was talking to her in hushed whispers while she was smoking a cigarette that Shanks didn't even know she had. Elie climbing anything like she had been climbing trees back in the woods. Instead she was sitting next to Kurt, in Johnny's empty seat, writing something and shaking her head when she didn't like what Kurt had put on the paper in front of him. Larry was sitting alone in his desk, looking over different pamphlets. Lynn was still crying as she sat in her desk.

Shanks went on with his lesson until the lunch bell rang and left with the rest of his students to the cafeteria. Nothing special went on during lunch. No fights started and neither did any students act up. When lunch was over, Lynn was not present. He was told that she hadn't even entered the cafeteria. Apparently she was so embarrassed about her injuries that she didn't want any of her friends or the other popular kids to see what she looked like so she just went home.

Even though Lynn was gone and the noise only slightly decreased due to no more crying, but not enough to keep the room quiet. Noises were coming from Johnny's machine with laughing from Victoria. Kyler was still talking with Maura. Every time Shanks took a cigarette away from Maura, she suddenly had another one the second he turned his back. Where the hell were they coming from?

It was only until the final bell ran before Shanks got some relief. All of his students left the room in a rush. After ten minutes of pure silence, it was time for him to leave. He locked the door and headed down the stairs. As soon as he hit the bottom of the stairs, he heard a voice call, "Thank you all for coming to the auditions. I didn't think we'd have so many people coming. We will start off with the main characters. We will hear from the auditions for the understudy of Deveon, who will be played by Kyler Hooker."

Shanks headed towards the voice and saw Johnny, Maura, Victoria, and Kyler sitting at one side of the table, looking at the stage in the cafeteria with a paper and pen in front of them. A large group of people were in the cafeteria and about twenty boys were crowded on the stage.

Victoria turned her head towards Shanks and waved him over. "Mr. Shanks, join us." she called. Shanks took up the offer and took the empty seat next to Victoria.

The boys on the stage ranged in different sizes, hair and skin color, and voices. They switched around a book for them to share and read off Deveon's lines. Some of them were trying to be funny and mess with their voices. One boy thought it would be funny to talk like someone Victoria called "John Travolta" but only he thought it was funny. After ten minutes of going through all the boys, the understudy for Deveon was a tall guy with dark skin.

The other people trying out for the back-ups for Johnny, Larry, Lynn, and Kurt's parts were about the same as the boys that tried out for Kyler's parts. They were all different in many ways. Some were acting funny and actually were funny, but others weren't. Finally, after a half an hour, a part for each character was given to four people. Only one girl tried out as Elie's understudy, so the part was given to her. After all the parts were given to somebody, either Victoria, Johnny, Kyler, or Maura wrote their name on the piece of paper with the pen.

The part of Maura's understudy was a little more difficult than the other parts. The ones that wanted to be Aeriala had to not only be able to sing extremely well, but also had to have excellent balance and moves. Some of the girls could sing but not move, others could move but not sing good, and some others couldn't even do both. Only two of the twenty-five girls that tried out could do both and they were both a part of Lynn's little group. Finally, the part was given to a blonde about Maura's height named Ashley.

Now it was time to take care of the minor parts. Some of the minor parts weren't that much of a big deal as they were extremely small and most students didn't want to have them. Those parts were some of the Royal Guards, the blacksmith, the grandfather of Kyler's character, and a few random townspeople with little or no lines.

Some of the slightly more difficult parts were the other two children of Shanks' character, a dead witch, a mysterious couple that would appear later on in the story, and three fairies. Had all of those fairies been female fairies, it wouldn't have been so difficult to find the parts, but two of the parts were for male fairies while the other had been female. It wasn't difficult to find the members for the male fairies. Only two male students tried out for the parts. One was the one called "Father Alexander" and another was a light haired boy in tight pants. According to Kyler, both were gay, but only the father denied it. The only problem with the other characters was that most of the people trying out for the parts were either too emotional or not emotional at all.

The hardest part for the play was for a pair of twins, siren twins. Not only did the girls with the part have to sing good, but they had to look enough like identical twins. They both had to have the same skin and hair color and they had to be close enough to the same height. Eye color was not that much of a big deal as not many people would notice if one girl had black eyes while another had green or something. The lighting and the lack of distance between stage and audience would take care of that. Most of the pairs of girls were looking enough like twins, but they could not carry a tune if their lives depended on it.

There was a pair that tried out for the twins and they had a nice high-pitched voice and they looked almost like identical twins, but there was a problem with them. They were two boys. They were trying to be funny and if it wasn't so obvious that they were boys, Victoria would have immediately hired them as the twins. It was so creepy to hear those two tall boys singing in a high pitched voice almost as good as Maura's and if they were hired for the parts, people would probably think that Victoria's play was a comedy rather than an adventure.

Finally, a pair of girls, twin girls with long brown hair and soft doe eyes named Suzette and Chloe were chosen for the parts. The two boys that tried out for the twins argued about the choice, but eventually let it go.

After all the auditions, Victoria called back a few of the girls that could sing along with a few guys and girls that couldn't to give them random background moves as servants, fairies, and animals. All together, there were forty parts (including the eight parts that already belonged to those in Victoria's class) that had to be given. That meant that over the weekend, Victoria was going to be working her ass off just to get all the parts completed.

"Alright. Thank you everybody for your rehearsals. We will all meet up on Monday after school and I will have parts for all of you that have earned a part in the play." Victoria explained.

Right after she said that, all of the other students except for the ones behind the table left the cafeteria and the school. Kyler, Johnny, Maura, and Victoria began to place the papers in their bags and stood up from their seats. "Okay. And we're done. Good job." Victoria told the rest that stayed.

"I'll come by your house tomorrow to help you make the copies, Victoria." Maura told her friend before leaving with Kyler.

"I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Shanks." Victoria told Shanks as she followed Johnny out the door of the cafeteria.

The entire cafeteria was now completely empty except for Shanks and the one janitor that was now starting to mop up the floor since the kids had already left. "Ah, what the hell. I might as well leave, too." Shanks muttered before following the kids' actions and leaving the school with the sun shining on his face as he walked down the streets back to the ship.

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A/N: Okay, that's chapter 14. I'm not exactly sure how Devil Fruit powers work on how somebody first learns powers, so I just made something up for Victoria.


	15. The Day the Field Got Vandalized

Ch. 15- The Day the Field Got Vandalized

The weekend went by as quickly as it came. In the two days that Shanks had away from the school and his students, which he had not seen over the weekend, things had gotten peaceful. It was a shame that the weekend had to end. The weather was a little chilly on Monday, but there wasn't a strong wind so there was no indication of a storm coming by again.

The streets were still messes as he walked over to the school, but most of the trees and branches were removed from the streets and a few of the power wires were repaired. A few houses were still without power and so were a few streetlights and a few cars on the side of the road were a little dented, but otherwise, everything was fine.

The talk of the day when Shanks walked into _Morning Glory High_, was a mixture of the storm and the big play that was to be put on at the end of the year. Many of the students didn't know Victoria very well except for the fact that she was in the class at the top of the school, but many of the people in her play were those of the popular kids so everybody knew about it and was excited about it.

He walked into Manson's office to say that he was around for work. A few pieces of papers were placed in Shanks' hands, talking about some sort of test. Manson also told him that the field and wooded area was off limits due to vandalism. Shanks nodded and left the office.

When Shanks got up to the top floor, to his classroom, all of his students except for Lynn was inside and the ones that were inside were split into three little groups. Kurt and Elie, who were both covered in bruises, were seated around Kurt's desk, going over papers. Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria were talking in soft voices around the middle of the room. Larry was seated in front of the TV, watching a dark-skinned man covered in baggy clothes and gold chains, singing something that sounded a lot like talking with a beat.

It would be another fifteen minutes before the bell would ring for class to start, so there was really no need for Shanks to try and quiet the class down. Although whatever Kurt and Elie were looking over seemed very tempting to find out, it was more tempting to find out what Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria were talking about just to make sure that they weren't trying to plot anything against him.

"So, what are you guys talking about?" Shanks asked as he walked up to the four.

Johnny turned his head towards Shanks and said, "The costumes for the play." He turned to Victoria and asked, "So, the school won't lend us any costumes for the play?"

"I talked to Principal Manson this morning and he said that we are free to use any costumes left over from the other plays from the years before, but they're so used that it will cost more money trying to touch them up than it is to get brand new ones." Victoria explained.

"So how are we going to get someone to make us costumes? I'd gladly put in some of the money I make at the bar, but there wouldn't be nearly enough to pay for it." Maura asked.

"Because you use it all on cigarettes." Shanks added.

Maura glared at him, "I do not spend all of my paycheck on cigarettes. I only use some of it for that. A huge chunk is used for something else."

"Which is?" Shanks asked.

"Which is none of your damn business."

"Okay, okay stop it. And you're wrong, Maura. We do have someone that can help us, someone that is the best fashion designer on the Island and a relative to one of us." Victoria answered.

Maura paled, "You don't mean…"

Victoria nodded, "I do. Maura, just ask Alice if she'll do it. She is your sister-in-law."

Maura shook her head, "No way. We hate each other."

"Just give her a chance, Maura." Johnny told her.

"I did give her a chance. I gave her tons of chances. I gave her chances when Adam was dating her. I gave her chances when he became engaged to her. I even gave her chances after he married her. It's not my fault that she refused to take them."

"Oh come on, Maura. Please?" Kyler begged.

"We won't ask you for anything else." Victoria added.

"Yes, you will." Maura said, "But, since you guys asked, I will do it if, and only if, all three of you and bastard here come along, too."

"Deal." Kyler, Victoria, and Johnny said. Shanks shrugged, which Maura and the others took for an agreement.

The noise from the TV was starting to get irritating. Whatever the guy on the TV was singing about, the only words Shanks could actually make out were "mother fucking", "hoe", and "nigger". Everything else sounded like gibberish and the beat was getting more and more annoying.

"Larry, what the hell are you listening to?" Shanks asked the man in front of the TV.

"It's some new rapper that goes by the name Yo Momma." Larry answered, not turning his head away from the TV.

The four students discussing the clothes for the play started laughing. Kurt and Elie joined in with a few soft chuckles. "I'm sure he's going to be getting far with a name like that." Maura said in a sarcastic tone.

As soon as everyone finished laughing about the rapper with the rather strange but also quite amusing name, the door opened and Lynn walked in with a small box in her hands. "You guys should thank me for what I'm going to do for you." she explained.

"You're finally getting out of here?" Maura asked in a hopeful voice.

"Not yet." Lynn answered in a slightly upset voice. Her face lit up as she placed the box on her desk and opened it up. "The walls here have absolutely nothing on them, so I took the time to grab a few posters to hang on the wall for a little bit of decoration."

Shanks nodded. "That's actually a pretty good idea." He meant it, too. Lynn was right. Despite the fact that many things were replaced and/or fixed in this room, the walls were completely bare. It almost looked like there was nothing in the room at all.

Kyler, Johnny, Larry, Victoria, and Maura walked over to Lynn's desk and each took out different small, folded up posters and read aloud the names at the bottom of the posters, "Emma Thompson…50 Cent…Orlando Bloom…Jessica Simpson…Johnny Depp…"

"Lynn, do you have anything else that didn't come from a _Seventeen_ magazine?" Victoria asked.

"Not all of these are from _Seventeen_. I took a few of those posters from _Teen People_ and _Elle magazine_." Lynn explained, "And I have a rare poster that would look perfectly on the walls of this room." Lynn took out more little posters before taking out a poster that was a little bigger than the other ones. She opened the art cabinet and took out four thumbtacks. She used them to stick the poster on the wall to the right of the blackboard in the front of the classroom.

The poster Lynn placed on the wall looked quite old, but was still a very beautiful poster. It was of a young woman dressed in a sporty teal dress with matching colored boots on a stage. Her long, curly brown hair had hair clips all over it and her face was absolutely perfect—no scratches, acne, piercings, or any other little disfigurements like the people in the smaller posters. A microphone was in her hands and a smile was on her face. The thing that stood out most about her was her bottle-green eyes. Kyler and Maura couldn't even look at her.

"This is Elaina Everlasting." Lynn explained, "The greatest singer in all of Washington." She looked at Kyler and Maura, "Why aren't you two look at her?"

"Bad memories." they both answered. They did not explain why it brought back bad memories even though both Shanks and Lynn asked why.

The loud bell rang again and the voice of the vice principal came over the intercom, asking everyone to state the Pledge of Allegiance. Like what happened a few days ago, nobody stood up. The rest of the announcements went on.

_Today is March 12, 2007 and the weather is cool and breezy. Attention students: it is almost time for the ITED and WASL testing. The tests will take place from April 2 to April 13. Your teachers will talk to you, explaining the tests and what your schedules are for those two weeks. Congratulations to those of you that have made it into the school play, the __**Saviour in Blue**__. Rehearsals will start today in the cafeteria after school. The yearbook club will meet in room 125 after school and all other clubs will meet in their usual spots at their usual times. _

_Over the weekend, four teenagers came to the school and burned anti-Bush messages into the soccer field, but our security camera was not able to catch their faces. Because of that, the field will be blocked until the culprits are found. If any of you know who may have done this vandalism, please tell Principal Manson or myself and your help will be kept anonymous. Because of this act of vandalism, all sports teams, except for the basketball team is cancelled until this mess is cleaned up._

_On a happier note, Happy Birthday to Jennifer Dolten, Greg Trevor, and Rico Gonzalez. Those are all the announcements for today._

"Okay, guys. I want you in your own seats so I can go over whatever the ITED and WASL are." Shanks announced.

A loud set of groans from every student came out as they all sat down in their own seats.

"Okay, the papers I got say that the ITED is for the ninth graders. Which of you are in the ninth grade?" Shanks asked.

Elie raised her hand. Maura had to stand up just for Shanks to see that she was, like Elie, in the ninth grade.

"Okay, and which of you are in the tenth grade?"

Johnny and Victoria raised their hands to show that they were in the tenth grade.

"Okay. Maura and Elie will be taking the ITED, which stands for the _Iowa Tests of Educational Development_. Every Monday through Friday from 7:45am to 11am. Students with last names A-M will meet in room 101, which means that both of you girls will meet in there. I won't bother reading the rooms where the other ninth graders are going to be since you girls are the only ones here. All pencils and papers are offered." Shanks said, looking at both Maura and Elie.

He took a deep breath before turning to Johnny and Victoria, "Johnny and Victoria, you will be taking the WASL, which stands for the _Washington Assessment of Student Learning_. At the same time as Maura and Elie, you will be taking your test. However, you both will be taking your test in room 246. As for Kyler, Larry, Lynn, and Kurt…you guys don't even have to come to school until 10am, when the ITED and WASL are over. After the testing, or at 10am, you all need to come here for testing. I don't exactly know what these tests are for, so…"

"The ITED is a complete waste of time since we don't even live in Iowa. The WASL is a requirement for graduation from High School. It tests us on Math, English, Science, and other stuff and it determines how smart we are. It's more important than the SATs because nowadays colleges don't give a damn about SAT scores. It all depends on how we do on the test." Johnny explained.

Shanks blinked, "How do you know that?"

"Everyone in this classroom has taken the WASL. You have to take it in the fourth, seventh, and tenth grade and you really have to pass the one in the tenth grade." Johnny explained.

"I hated the English part. I failed it all three times." Kyler added.

Shanks looked at Kyler, "English? Isn't that what you speak?"

"English is just a fancy word for reading and writing, Mr. Shanks." Victoria explained.

"…oh. Well, it's time for today's lessons. The field and wooded areas are off limits for today until the school catches the kids who did the anti-Bush…whoever he is…thing on the grass in the field…"

"Bush is the President of our country. Everyone voted for him, but because he's bringing troops into Iraq, people want him kicked out of being the president." Johnny explained.

"My dad calls all of them pansy-asses." Elie said.

"Adam says that, too. They're all just being wusses." Maura said.

"Okay, guys. That's enough of that. Since we can't do anything outside, I think we should go back to where a few of you guys teach the class something. Johnny, get up here and teach us some more of that weird 'Al Bhed' language you like speaking. Maybe we can actually use it to hide stuff away from Manson and the others in the school." Shanks ordered.

Johnny thought about it for a minute. It seemed like a good idea to hide something from everyone, especially from those that tended to look down upon those in room 314. He stood up and walked to the blackboard. "You're all probably going to want to take out papers so you can write down some of the sentences and letters I'm going to be using." Johnny said to the class. He continued with his lesson, not exactly caring if only one or two of the students actually took out papers and began writing.

"I'll give you the translations for the first ten letters of the English language." Johnny explained, writing 'A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J' on the board and then directly under them, 'Y, P, L, T, A, V, K, R, E, Z' under them. "Here are the translations. You can mess around with these to make them into actual words, but sometimes it's more fun to learn letters by looking at an Al Bhed sentence and its translation. Here are a few we could use…"

Johnny continued to work on the blackboard, writing down English sentences with their Al Bhed translations:

_I'm going to kick your ass- E's kuehk du gelg ouin ycc_

_Fuck off- Vilg uvv_

_I'm sorry- E's cunno_

_You can't prove I did it- Oui lyh'd bnuja E tet ed_

_Shut the Hell up!- Crid dra Ramm ib!_

_No, I didn't- Hu, E teth'd_

_So what if I did?- Cu fryd ev E tet?_

Shanks had to admit, although he didn't particularly like any of the students in this classroom, he had to admit that Johnny was right about learning things easier with the sentences and it was pretty interesting learning something new. Apparently most of the students looked intrigued with his lesson because they knew that if they learned this language, they could keep something to themselves. It even got them to quiet down just a tiny bit…or maybe was it because Johnny was up there? No, that couldn't be it. Kurt and Elie were watching him quietly with looks of hope in their eyes, like they knew that they could keep secrets from everyone else and this was the best way to do it. If Shanks was up there, giving the lesson himself, if he actually mastered the Al Bhed language, they would have listened and given him more respect.

Johnny finished his little mini-Al Bhed lesson and took a few questions before proceeding back to his seat. Almost immediately, the door to the class opened and there in the doorway stood Principal Manson and a few security guards.

"You…all of you…I want you to come down to my office immediately. I have some questioning for all of you." Manson ordered the students.

Everybody stood up and began walking out of the class. Shanks turned to Kurt and Elie and asked, "Why did you guys give in to the guards so simply?"

"Because those assholes have taisers and those things hurt." Kurt explained. Elie nodded in agreement.

"This is great. I knew this was going to happen. Somebody said that we were the ones that vandalized the fields so here we are being punished for it." Maura said in an upset voice. "This is just like what happened three years ago back in middle school."

"What happened three years ago that is like this?" Shanks asked her.

Kyler answered this one, "Back in middle school some kid was causing bomb threats and the principal wanted to know who did it, so everyone was accusing each other. Naturally, at the top of the lists were Maura, Johnny, Victoria, Elie, and me because a bunch of kids hated us for no reason. They never found out who did it and we were in…in…what was that word they used?"

"Interrogated." Victoria said.

"Yeah. We were like that for hours before we were allowed to go home." Kyler finished.

Like what happened three years ago, as Kyler had said, each and every one of the students in the class was interrogated by age. Larry, being the eldest went in first. Shanks sat in the interrogation room, which was actually the teacher's lounge, the table where they ate lunch. The questions being asked to Larry was the same to all the others. "What were you doing on Saturday night from 8:00 to 10:45pm? Who were you with? Where were you? Did you do anything else? Did you vandalize the field? What is your opinion on Bush? Have you ever vandalized anything before? Do you know who did this? Do you know who might have accused you of vandalism?"

"On Saturday night I was at my friend Adam Anders' house from 7:00 to 11:00 playing poker, Maura and Kyler can back me up a little. I was with Adam, Alice, and Maura Anders and Kyler Hooker. I went home at 11:00. I have better things to do than vandalize a field. Bush is my President and that's all I'm going to say. I did vandalize the side of the school building ten years ago with Adam Anders, if you can remember. I don't know who did it and I have no clue." Larry's answered.

Kurt was next since he was the second oldest. "I was going over plans on Saturday. Elie. None of your business. You think I would waste my time vandalizing a field? I don't really give a damn about Bush."

Kyler was next, being the third eldest. "Up until nine I was at the Karaoke bar downtown but went to my neighbor's house to play poker. Maura was with me the whole time. At 11:00 I went home. I wouldn't vandalize a place that you can play soccer on. Bush doesn't bother me. I vandalized a neighbor's car when with Maura when I was nine. No. No."

Victoria went up next, being the fourth eldest. "Up until nine I was at _Capricorn Karaoke Bar_ with Kyler, Maura, and Johnny. After the bar, I had to go home because I had chores the next day. I did not vandalize the field nor do I know who did it or why people think I did. I've also never vandalized anything before. I think Bush is doing a wonderful job as President."

Next up was Johnny. "I was at _Capricorn Karaoke Bar_ up until nine, where I went home. At the bar I was with Kyler, Victoria, and Maura. I didn't do anything else. No, I didn't vandalize the field, I swear in the name of Yevon. Bush? Eh, big deal. No, I never vandalized anything. I don't know who did it and I can't tell you who got me on the accusation list."

Maura, being the next eldest went up next. "I was at work until nine and I was with Kyler, Johnny, Victoria, and my co-workers. At nine, I went home to play poker with Larry, Kyler, and my big brother. Why would I waste my time vandalizing a field? Tell you what, if Bush could find a way to get me free cigarettes, he'd be my friend for life. Aside from little Halloween pranks with egging houses and TPing property, I did vandalize a car that belonged to a neighbor of mine with Kyler back when I was seven. I have no clue who did it and I can't tell you who assumed that I did it because the list of names would be too long."

Elie was the youngest, so she went last. "I was going over a plan on Saturday. Kurt. Why would I tell you? You think I would waste my time vandalizing a field? I don't really give a damn about Bush."

Lynn was the only one of the eight that was not interviewed and the reason for that was that nobody accused her of doing the vandalism in the field. It wasn't really very fair to both her and the rest of the class that she was there. It wasn't fair to her because she had to sit for hours in the office when nobody accused her of what happened. It wasn't fair to everyone else that she was the only person in the class that wasn't accused even though she likely was the one that really did do it.

Since Kyler, Maura, Larry, Johnny, and Victoria had parts of their stories mingled together, the interrogators didn't have to question them very long. They only had to ask Victoria and Johnny to explain a little deeper what they were doing after they left the bar at the same time as Kyler and Maura at nine o'clock.

Kurt and Elie were the most difficult ones to interrogate since they didn't explain very much of what they were doing or where they were going even though they were in the same place. They were the ones that took up two of the three hours of interrogation. It would have gone longer if Elie had more time to continue with more answers but the lunch bell rang and all of the students ran out. It didn't really matter that they did. It wasn't like they were going to admit what they had done if they had done it.

All the talk in the cafeteria was all about the vandalism of the field. Some of the students thought it was rather funny, but the jocks were annoyed. Because of the vandalism, the field was off-limits and if the field was off-limits, that meant no sports.

From inside the teacher's lounge, the talk of vandalism was more intense. Aside from the students in room 314, only three other students: two boys and a girl, were interrogated but none admitted that they had done it nor had they knew who really had and they had no intention of doing so no matter how serious the situation was. For the first time ever, Shanks stood up for the seven of his accused students. Larry, Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria's stories all checked out and it was unlikely that they would take the time to burn a message into a field, especially since Kyler and Johnny played soccer. Kurt and Elie, as tough as they were, were the types of kids that used fists rather than messages. If they wanted to do some damage, they would use what Shanks had taught them.

All of the students met up after lunch in their classrooms, where it was time to continue the lessons they were to be learning. Like Shanks had said before, there was going to be a test on subtraction and thankfully, in the storage closet, there was a folder of already made math problems. Shanks took out eight of the subtraction papers and handed each paper in front of each student as soon as they were all seated in their desks.

Immediately Larry, Johnny, and Victoria went at it, scribbling down answers as quickly as they could. Maura rolled her eyes, but followed her friend's movements and began to scribble down answers. Kyler and Lynn, though they were both seventeen, took a while to write their answers down. Kyler actually had to think about his answers while Lynn just chose to take her sweet time. Kurt and Elie refused to do the paper all together. It just lay on the desks in front of them.

After a half an hour, everyone but Kurt and Elie were finished with their tests. In fact, Kurt and Elie didn't even touch their papers. They just stayed in the same position they were in earlier without a single mark on them.

"Okay, guys. Hand in your papers." Shanks ordered. Larry, Kyler, Lynn, Victoria, Johnny, and Maura handed up their papers and gave them to Shanks. The man looked at Kurt and Elie and asked, "You two…is there a reason why you didn't do anything?"

"We didn't want to." Kurt answered.

"I don't give a damn if you wanted to or not. I want you to do it." Shanks ordered.

Kurt and Elie looked at each other, grabbed their papers, and tore them into little pieces before tossing the pieces in different directions.

"Fine. Be that way, but remember, I can kick your ass even though I have only one arm because I'm stronger than both of you combined and you know it." Shanks told them. He quickly looked over all the papers and said, "The rest of you. Great job. A. Now, to go on with another lesson. I remember that back when I first came here, I had a book on US history, so we're going to be going over it and if you already know what I'm going to be teaching, then I don't give a shit. I still want you to pay attention."

Shanks reached into his desk and pulled out the thick and very worn history book that was inside. "Okay, let's skip this introduction shit…okay, here we go. 'Before the English came to America to escape tyranny and their crowded country in the 1600s, the people that lived in America were the Native Americans, or Indians as they are often called…'"

None of the students were paying attention. In fact, after a few small groans, they were just sitting there, either writing, drawing, or just staring off into space…up until about twenty-five minutes into Shanks' reading when Kyler fell asleep. It didn't bother Shanks, though. They were all practically quiet and Kyler didn't snore all that loudly, so he didn't have to worry about shutting them up. Besides, he didn't really much care for the history, either.

Shanks' reading went on for an hour and a half before he woke Kyler up with a loud, swift smack on the back of the boy's head. There was only one more hour left of school and so far, the rest of the students were half asleep, so to pass some time, Kyler walked up and turned on the TV.

The channel that was on was a news channel and the topic that was being discussed was the vandalism of the field at school with the anti-Bush messages. After a few minutes of the female news reporter repeating what everyone already knew, a little video of the school being vandalized was shown, a thing from the surveillance camera Victoria explained.

Although the camera was in black-and-white and the four teens were dressed in black, it was easy to tell that there were two boys and two girls doing the damage. In fact, Kyler, Lynn, Maura, Johnny, and Victoria actually knew who they were.

"Dude, it's the rejects!" Kyler shouted.

"The what?" Shanks asked.

"Those four we call 'the rejects'. They used to be in this class before you came along. Randy, Cole, Sierra, and Teresa were probably the worst students that ever had to be in this room. They were like Lynn, but about ten times as whiny and bitchy. Because of their failing grades, they were sent here, but they cried about everything and I do mean _everything_. If they got a bad grade, couldn't think of the answer to a question, or if we were better than them at something, they would whine until the temporary teacher gave in." Johnny explained.

"They are some of the rich kids at the school, but nobody likes them. Our temporary teachers finally kicked them out of the class and none of the other teachers wanted them, but Principal Manson made them be in a class. He put them in room 113, which is the study hall room so they could learn at their own pace." Victoria added.

"They're always trying to be popular, so they try doing things to be noticed. They tried out for Victoria's play, but none got through. This is probably revenge or probably another thing for attention." Kyler continued.

"They'll fess up. They always do." Maura said.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing that I got here early. One Lynn is bad enough, but five would be too much." Shanks said.

"Oh, trust me…and Lynn, this is a compliment, Lynn is nothing compared to them. There would have to be ten Lynns to make one of the rejects." Johnny said.

"So, you call them the rejects because they were kicked out of this class?" Shanks asked. Everyone nodded.

The students watched the news until the bell rang and Kyler turned off the TV. Everyone started gathering up their belongings.

"Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Shanks said.

"Mr. Shanks, you have to come with us. Rehearsals are today and you promised that you would be the king in my play." Victoria pointed out.

"Oh, that's right." Shanks said, suddenly remembering his promise to Victoria. He smacked his hand against his forehead. Now he was stuck at the school even longer.

"And you have to come with us back to Maura's house to ask Alice to make our costumes. You promised."

"…Dammit. This is why I hate making promises to kids. They always remember them." Shanks cursed the day he started making the promises.

The nine from the room, both gloomily and happily, walked down to the cafeteria. Everyone that got a part in the play was already present and that was a good thing. That meant no waiting for others to come and they could get right to work and the sooner they started, the sooner they could stop.

Victoria placed a smile on her face, reached into her bag, and pulled out all the needed scripts. "Thank you all for coming. As I promised, I made copies of the script for everyone that needs one. When I call your name, please pick up your part." Victoria announced.

"What are we going to do about costumes? Are we going to wear the old worn out ones from the school?" the girl playing Lynn's understudy asked.

"We are trying to find a way to get new costumes," Victoria explained, "And if our plan does not work, then we might have to make our own or use the old ones."

All the girls and the two boys playing the male fairies wrinkled their noses in disgust.

Victoria began to call out names and hand out scripts to those that needed them. Once finished, she announced, "Alright. In this first scene, the townspeople are walking around town, talking to each other when Deveon and Samuel walk up, so I would like the townspeople, Kyler, and Johnny to go up on the stage. The understudies will stand by me for a while to watch what happens. Don't worry, I will practice with you guys, too." The small group of people walked onto the stage. "Alright and…go!"

As soon as Victoria said the word "go", the large doors to the cafeteria opened and a large group of rather large male jocks came inside and began throwing around paper balls, banging into those in the play, and making a lot of noise.

"Hold on." Victoria told those on the stage. She turned to the largest boy and said loudly, "Excuse me, but we're trying to rehearse."

"Then you should have talked to the principal about using this cafeteria. The field is off-limits until they find the assholes that wrecked it, so we're using the cafeteria for track." the boy replied.

"The announcements said that we were going to be using the cafeteria for our play." Victoria explained. "You have to leave."

"We want to be in the play then." Another boy, the fourth largest, said.

Victoria shook her head, "It's too late. The play has already been cast. There are no more parts. Please leave."

None of the jocks moved.

"Didn't you hear her? Get lost! We're trying to work!" Maura shouted at the jocks. She was backed up by a group of "yeah, get lost"s by the other cast members.

The tallest boy glared at Maura and walked up to her, showing that he was easily a foot taller than her 5'5''. "Shut your damn mouth." he said before shoving her.

Immediately, Kyler jumped off the stage and gave the boy a sucker-punch for shoving his girlfriend.

The boy turned his attention from Maura to Kyler and spit on the ground. Blood and a loose tooth fell to the hard, cold floor of the cafeteria and the boy was pissed.

Inside, Shanks was actually pleased with what Kyler had done. He would have done the same thing, but that wasn't really the thing he was pleased with. He was pleased that Kyler actually used force in his punch even if he didn't stop and think. Kyler knew his target and how much strength he wanted to use and he hit his target and caused some damage even if the outcome wasn't as good as it could have been.

The boy that got punched had muscles, big muscles, much bigger than the ones Kurt had and certainly much bigger than Kyler's. Quickly, he grabbed Kyler by the throat and began to squeeze.

"Let go of him!" Maura screamed in alarm. At the same time, her and Johnny, who had jumped off the stage, began to beat against the largest boy to get him to release Kyler.

The boy released Kyler after about thirty seconds, causing Kyler to fall to his knees coughing for breath. The tallest boy was now heading for Johnny. Before he could even grab Johnny, the understudies, or at least most of them, began to attack. He was completely outnumbered. "Guys! Give me a hand!" he shouted to the other jocks.

His fellow jocks followed the order and began to attack the male cast members, who fought back. Soon, the cafeteria was no longer filled with the patience of cast members ready to rehearse for the big play. It was now filled with screams, curses, and fighting from both innocent cast members and brutal track team members.

Victoria was almost in tears. All her hard work and plans for the day were completely ruined and no matter how loud she called and screamed for everyone to stop, nothing worked. She wanted to ask Kurt, Elie, and Larry for help since they were the strongest of her play members, but they were too busy fighting. She ran up to Shanks, who was looking at all the fighting, wondering who he was going to attack without hurting an innocent play member. "Mr. Shanks, what do we do? People are going to get hurt!" She asked fearfully.

Shanks suddenly had an idea and it was going to be one that Victoria would not like. "You have to use your powers." he said simply.

"But, the only move I know is for a barrier and I don't know how to make a barrier for multiple targets." Victoria explained.

"No, I mean you have to use your powers to attack. Do you remember last week when you and Maura were walking through the back of the school and were outnumbered by the rich kids and you used that wind move to knock everybody back?" Shanks asked. Victoria nodded. "Good. You're going to have to use that again. You can even scream a message to them."

"The wind will carry the sound?" Victoria asked.

Shanks shrugged, "It might. Just do what I told you to do with the barrier attack. It should be easier to do this time since Kyler won't be making faces at you. Just close your eyes, summon a windstorm, and scream a message…just don't use too much force or you could hurt somebody."

Victoria was hesitant, but she nodded. She took a deep breath, summoned a small windstorm, screamed, and as the wind came and knocked the fighters in different directions, her scream echoed. "STOP!!!"

00000000000000

A/N: Happy Birthday to me…yes, today really is my birthday and I decided to be nice and present you guys with not one, but two chapters of this story.

There are tests actually called the ITED and WASL that are taken in Washington and the explanation of what they do and times are based on a schedule from Whidbey Island. The ITED is pointless, but they make ninth graders take it (for reasons I'm still unsure of) and the WASL is more important than the SATs (for another reason I'm unsure of).

There is also no rapper called "Yo Momma" (or if there is, then he must not be very popular). I just made the name up for humor purposes.


	16. Shanks the Savior

Ch. 16- Shanks the Savior

Victoria's voice echoed throughout the cafeteria as every person in the cafeteria except herself was flung to the walls. Almost immediately, everyone shut up and stopped what they were doing. She turned to the tallest boy and actually started to cry, "What is your problem? Why do you have to do something like this to me? How is it my fault that the field is ruined?"

The tallest boy blinked at her, as if he was trying to get the message to go through his head. Truthfully, he was thinking the same thing as most of the other kids in the cafeteria: what the hell did she just do? Finally, he shrugged it off and motioned for his friends to leave. He made one final nod at Victoria before walking out himself.

Victoria dried her tears, "Alright everyone. Back to rehearsals." She sat back in her seat while the ones that were to be on the stage went on and practiced their lines.

Victoria got around to making everybody, even the understudies, practice a part of their lines so they could get the feel of being who they were supposed to be. The first rehearsal went on until four thirty, when Manson asked everyone to leave the cafeteria and go home. It was almost time for Shanks to get back to the ship…then he remembered that he had to stop by Maura's house because apparently he did promise that he would stop by to talk about costumes.

By this time, Kyler had his car back and had just enough space to fit him and Maura in the front and Johnny, Victoria, and Shanks in the back so nobody had to walk home. There was already a purple car in Maura's driveway, which the girls explained belonged to her sister-in-law.

Maura opened the front door of her house and motioned for Kyler, Johnny, Victoria, and Shanks to follow her inside. Shanks had to admit that he was surprised about what the inside of her house looked like. Maura was a smoker and he figured that her brother or sister was too and there would be many ashtrays everywhere and the place would smell strongly of smoke and tobacco, but it was the complete opposite. There wasn't a single ashtray in sight and the house smelled like flowers and freshly baked goods. It wasn't even a mess inside. The only noises inside the house were the steps of the newcomers, faint talking, and light sobbing.

"Ah dammit! She's watching the soaps again." Maura groaned as she walked to the room where the sobbing and talking came from. Sure enough, seated on the couch was the pretty brunette woman Shanks saw when he came to talk to her brother about Maura. She was seated on a blue couch with a tissue in her hands and tears rolling down her cheeks as she watched a TV.

The woman turned her head and said in a teary voice, "Hello. What's wrong? Has Maura been pulling the same stuff she always pulls?"

"Alice, we have a favor to ask you." Maura said seriously.

The woman sighed, turned off the TV with a remote, dried her eyes, and asked, "What do you want?"

"We are doing a play for school and we desperately need new costumes for the play because the school's are very worn. Would you make some for us?" Victoria asked.

"Please?" Kyler, Johnny, and Maura asked.

Alice looked between all four of them and shrugged, "Sure. However, I can't do it for free. I will need some money for materials. How many costumes do you need?"

"About twenty." Victoria answered.

"Okay. Victoria, send me a picture of what you want each costume to look like so I'll know what to measure each person for."

Victoria nodded, "Thank you Alice. I'll send you to pictures tomorrow."

Johnny turned to Maura, "That wasn't so hard Maura."

"You just caught her on a good day and technically Victoria asked her to do it." Maura explained.

Almost after that, Shanks left while Johnny, Kyler, and Victoria stayed. He didn't really have any other means to stay. He only came along so Maura could ask about the clothes and since that was over with, he could leave.

When Shanks came to his ship, it was starting to sprinkle a little and after an hour, the sprinkles turned into rain. Saiyoru was home at the time and admitted that they needed to do a little bit of food shopping and since Shanks was the only one with a butt-load of money, he would have to be the one to go…as long as he had two helpers along with him. He picked Saiyoru and Olivier and walked off to the store.

It began to pour by the time Shanks, Olivier, and Saiyoru exited the store with their hands full of bags of food and other necessities and because they had no other transportation besides walking and no umbrellas, they were forced to walk back to the marina in the weather. They were at the halfway point between the marina and the store when Shanks felt someone run into him, causing him to drop his bag and most of the items inside to fall out of the bag and roll on the soaked sidewalk.

Shanks quickly turned around and, with his hand, grabbed the person that ran into him by the shirt. "Going somewhere, Elie?"

Elie smacked at his hands and tried to escape, but was unsuccessful. "Let go of me!" she screamed. She gave an extra hard pull when she saw some headlights coming from around the street corners. The back of her shirt tore a little, but she was out of Shanks' grasp and ran down the street and around the first corner she saw into an alley.

The car with the headlights was a beat-up gray car with many dents and scratches on the sides. A few of the windows were cracked and the back of the car was letting out the most foul smell that could have come out of anything moving. It rattled as it drove down the streets and sounded like it could break down at any second.

The driver of the car stopped in front of Shanks and brought down the window on the door of the passenger's seat. There, in the driver's seat, was an enraged Nick Morrow. "Hey, you're my kid's teacher? You seen Jill?" Nick asked.

"Don't you mean Elin?" Shanks asked.

"…yeah, whatever. You seen her?" Nick asked, not really caring that he once again did not get his daughter's name right. At the same time Shanks, Olivier, and Saiyoru shook their heads. Nick grunted, rolled up his window, and drove off down the street in search of Elie.

Once the beat up car turned a far corner, Shanks ran to the alley Elie disappeared in. She was no longer there. She must have run off while Shanks was talking with her father. Shanks let out a half annoyed sigh and began to pile up the rest of the items he bought at the store in the soaked bag.

The three pirates ran into Elie again when they were about two blocks away from the marina, before they got to their ship. The rain came down slightly harder, though not as hard as the storm the week before. The sun was starting to go down, so the streetlights lit up before it got completely pitch black. Standing under a streetlight was Elie, hunched over, breathing, her face moist with a mixture of sweat, tears, and rain.

"You know he's looking for you, right?" Shanks asked as he walked up to the girl.

Elie stared at him. Her blue-green eyes were no longer filled with the usual emotionless hate but now filled with pure fear. She didn't say anything to him, but instead nodded to show that she knew that her father was looking for her.

"Come with me." Shanks told her. Elie didn't move. Shanks let out a sigh, "Okay, then you can stay out here in the rain until you get sick or your father drags you back home to beat the shit out of you."

"I don't need your help! I can get along fine on my own!" Elie said hatefully. With that, she walked away from Shanks and turned a corner.

"She's going to die someday." Shanks muttered before continuing his way back. He ran into Elie one final time when he got back to the marina. When he ran into her, she was running away from her father. Although all he saw of Elie and her father were shadows, but he knew who they were by the voices.

"Get back here, you little bitch!" The man in the shadows, Nick, shouted at the smaller figure, "I'll teach you to run away from me!" He didn't seem to be holding any weapon, but Shanks knew that the man could do damage to his daughter by his hands alone. He could probably even kill her this time and Elie seemed too afraid to fight back.

The smaller person, Elie, seemed to be doing a good job of running away but her luck began to run out after she slipped on a puddle of water and fell onto her face. She was only down for a second, but that was just enough time for her father to get within grabbing range of her. She didn't think before she made a very dangerous move. She ran to the end of the docks, jumped into the water, and didn't come back up.

"Fine. If this is how you want it to end, so be it." Nick said as soon as his daughter dove into the ocean. He didn't even wait to see if she would come back up. He just walked back to his car, which was parked nearby, and drove off.

Shanks walked to the end of the docks, where Elie dove, and shouted, "Okay, he's gone. You can come back up, Elie." Elie did not come up. All that came was a few ripples from where she jumped. "Elie?" Still nothing. "That's not funny, Elie! Get back up here!" She didn't. It was official: she was drowning.

Before Shanks knew it, his bag was on the ground and he quickly dove in after the girl. The cold water was only about seven feet tall, which was bigger than anybody in his classroom. At first, he couldn't see her through the slightly murky water, but after he dove down a few feet, he saw her. She was at the bottom of the ocean, struggling to catch some air and with a little rope around her legs. She was using her hands so she could try and swim to the surface and free her legs.

Shanks dove down to her legs and pulled the ropes. Strangely, the ropes were not holding her down. The thick mud at the bottom was what was holding her down. Shanks had to place his hand on her left leg and pull it out before moving it to the right leg and removing that one from the mud. He then placed his arm around Elie's waist and began to swim back to the surface.

As soon as Shanks and Elie got to the surface, both began coughing and gasping for air. With the help of Saiyoru and Olivier, the two were pulled onto the docks. By this time, Elie was even more soaked than she was before and she was shivering.

"T-thank y-you…" she told Shanks after coughing up a little bit of water.

"You're going home with me and my crew." he ordered.

"You're taking me to your boat?" Elie asked.

Olivier and Saiyoru glared at her in half surprise and half anger. How dare this little kid, the "thirteen-year-old" as some of the other pirates called her, insult a great ship like theirs! Olivier, being much much taller than the small Elie, stomped in front of Elie and glared down into her eyes. "Why you little…" he started.

"Leave her alone." Shanks told Olivier. He turned back to Elie, "Let's get going. It's cold and getting dark."

Like a puppy, the small girl followed the one-armed pirate back to his ship through the pouring rain. When she was pushed inside the ship, she was grateful to be out of the rain and away from her hellish father. She also noticed that there were more guys then she remembered seeing last time she came to work on the ship two weeks ago.

All of the dry men inside the ship turned their heads from their mugs and towards the doorway and just stared at what was standing in the doorway. Elie stared back at them. Nobody said anything before Shanks barked at the men inside, "Well, somebody say something!"

One of the crewmates put his mug of rum on the table and bent down to Elie's height. He looked at her face and her clothes, which stuck to her body like a second layer of skin. "Well, she's small, but I guess she can offer the entertainment we need." he said, this time sticking his eyes closer to Elie's chest.

Before anybody could say anything else, Elie clenched her right hand into a fist and gave him a swift punch in the right eye with just enough force to knock him on his behind. The other men laughed.

"Jill here really knows how to throw a good punch." Saiyoru said laughing.

"My name's Elie. Not Jill. Elie." Elie explained in an emotionless voice.

"So captain. Why did you bring the nurse back here?" Kaito asked.

"She was having too many problems back home so she's staying with us for the night. Just don't get any ideas about doing anything to her." Shanks explained. "Pour her a mug." he ordered.

"Thirteen-year-olds can drink here?" Ben asked.

"I'm fifteen, not thirteen." Elie said simply.

"Really? Well, Elie the fifteen-year-old, before you sit and join us for a drink, we should probably get you some dry clothes." Kaito said.

"Good idea. Get her the smallest thing we got." Shanks ordered.

Five of the pirates left and the ship was filled with the sounds of drawers being opened and rummaged through. It took a while since most of the clothes around were still pretty dirty and most of the clean clothes were extremely big, too big to fit on Elie without showing…things. By the time they returned to the main room, only one outfit, a T-shirt, pair of shorts, and socks were in their hands.

Elie grabbed the clothes and walked into an unoccupied bedroom to remove most of her clothes and put on the new, dry ones. She was in the room for almost fifteen minutes before she walked out with a hand holding up the shorts on her body from the shirt and the other holding her soaked clothes.

The pirates took one look at Elie and went into hysterics. The smallest, cleanest shirt they had was still too big for her. The white shirt given to her looked like some sort of nightdress. It went down to her thighs and because it was so wide, it showed a few straps of her bra. The shorts almost couldn't be seen, but they must have been too big for her, too if she was trying to hold them up. The socks she was wearing went up to her knees. Her own original features made her look even more hilarious. Her shoulder-length brown hair was soaked and a little messy. Her eyebrows were raised into a position to make her look worried/embarrassed and her mouth was in a small frown. She looked like some sort of little kid that was forced into something they didn't want to wear.

"Do you have something smaller than this?" Elie asked.

"Sorry, Shrimpo. You got the smallest thing we got."

"Do you at least have a belt or something?"

"Yeah, we got some belts, but judging by how thin your body is, we doubt the belts would even fit." Lucky answered.

Ben left the room and when he came back, he had a small length of rope in his hands. He placed in Elie's free hand. "Use this. It's the only thing we got that can even be used as a belt.

Elie didn't say anything before leaving the room and tightening the rope around her shorts to use as a makeshift belt. It was now tight enough so she didn't have to hold up the shorts she wore. She still looked funny with her hair and the little frown on her face and the clothes that were still too big for her, but at least now she didn't have to old anything up. She walked back into the main room. That's when one of the pirates, one she didn't know or didn't really care the name of, asked her how it looked. She didn't think as she lifted the large shirt until just a little above her stomach.

All of the pirates gaped at her, even Shanks. Sure he knew that she was being beaten like a dog at home, but he didn't really think it would be this bad. She looked almost anorexic. It was almost impossible to see any muscles on her body and the parts that showed even a little bit of muscle were black and blue with bruises. The shorts fit, but it looked so wrong, mixing with the bruises all over her body. There were even a few scars from what looked like cigarette burns and knife cuts around her ribs.

"Damn Elie. What the hell happened to you?" Shanks asked.

"You know what happened." Elie answered in an emotionless voice.

"Ah, because your old man beats you, right?" Yasopp asked.

Elie made a quick look at Shanks and gave him a hateful look that sent shivers down his spine. "You just had to tell everyone, didn't you?"

Shanks shook his head. "I didn't tell them anything. We kind of already figured out about what happened after I got your paper on the _Harry Potter_ book when it had blood stains on it." He half lied.

Elie didn't say anything to him, but hopped down on top of an unoccupied barrel with her hands in front of her, motioning for a mug to be placed in her hands. Amazingly the other pirates got her message and handed her a mug full of the alcohol everyone else was drinking. She began to drink it down like she hadn't drank anything in a week.

"Hey Elie. There's something I want to ask you…" Shanks started.

Elie gulped down what was in her mouth and said, "If it's why everyone in the class thinks you're gay, then you know why."

"No, but I am trying to get them to stop."

"Don't ever sing again."

"You guys are horrible, you know that?" Shanks asked. Elie nodded. "My question is, why does your dad call you 'Jill'? Who is Jill? Is she that woman from Victoria's story?"

"The Jill from Victoria's story is a made up character. The Jill that man calls me is actually my mother and the man is often too drunk to notice that she's gone and my name is Elie." Elie took another gulp of her drink.

"Kurt's not going to go crazy when he finds out that you weren't home last night is he?" Shanks asked.

Elie shook her head and swallowed. "Kurt and I meet up at school. My dad and his mom don't get along." she explained. "What's in this anyway? I can taste strawberries, cherries, and lime but I can't tell what everything else is."

"We usually don't worry about what's in our drinks. As long as it's alcohol, we'll drink it."

Elie nodded, indicating that she understood what he was saying, and continued taking more sips out of her drink without saying anything hateful to anyone or sending any glares.

Shanks was starting to get surprised with Elie. She was starting to open up a little. It almost seemed like she was no longer the bad girl he had known her to be, but now more like a more damaged Victoria. However, when she was around Kurt, she went back to her normal bad girl personality. Kurt hadn't opened up yet except for around Elie. If Elie was calm, he was too. If she played a game, he often joined her. If she wanted something, he either wanted it too or he would give her what she wanted.

"Hey Elie?"

"Yeah?"

"I keep seeing you and Kurt working on a paper that you won't let anyone else see and you both talked about some sort of plan earlier today when you were interviewed for the vandalism of the field. What exactly is your plan?"

"None of your business." Elie said simply, "and I'm not telling you anything else."

Well, so much for getting some information about what she and Kurt had planned. She wasn't going to tell him anything else for her own reasons. It could have been because Kurt had told her not to tell anyone or that she didn't want somebody to snitch on her if she was doing something that could get her in trouble or even that she just couldn't tell anyone anything about her plans.

Elie continued with the alcohol in her hands without saying anything. She sat on the barrel silently drinking her alcohol, trying to figure out the other tastes she could not figure out earlier and listening to the different conversations between the pirates going on.

A few simple questions like "What do you think?", "Why are you so short?", "Are you really fifteen?", and "Do you do things like that on this island?" were asked at her. The height and age questions really annoyed her and Shanks could tell that it did by the way her eyebrows began to twitch.

"I'm guessing my height came from my mother's side of the family, but I don't really know. Yes, I really am fifteen. My birthday was February 1st." Elie answered through clenched teeth. She calmly answered the other questions she felt were interesting, but mostly through one or two word sentences. Aside from those answers, she hadn't said anything. She didn't even ask questions.

The sky became pitch black and the rain finally stopped coming down after a few hours. By that time, most of the pirates had gotten tired and went to their beds. At that time only Elie, Shanks, and three of the other pirates that she couldn't remember the names of were awake, but Elie wasn't going to stay up very much longer. Her eyes were growing tired and she let out a small yawn.

Being the only girl, Elie had the privilege of sleeping on the couch in the lounge away from the men in their rooms in case they happened to get any ideas. The couch was very worn and lumpy, almost like the beds in the other rooms, but it was still sleepable and since there were only a few in the lounge at the moment, the room was practically quiet and she managed to fall asleep quickly.

Shanks couldn't help but to look at the girl as she slept. Like before, when he caught her sleeping at the school after he choked her, she was looking a little uneasy. Her eyebrows were twitching, a few little fearful murmurs were coming from her closed mouth, and her body was turning around a little, but he didn't wake her up. He just left her there so turn and twitch through her nightmares before he went to his own bed to fall asleep with the sounds of Elie's murmurs repeating in his head and the ocean's nightly waves hitting the ship.

_THE NEXT DAY_

When Shanks woke up the next morning, Elie was already awake. In fact, she was already in the same clothes she wore yesterday. The clothes were already dry even though they were dirty and smelled like the ocean. She didn't look upset about the way her own clothes looked. At least she had clothing that was actually fitting her.

Breakfast was being cooked and one-by-one, the pirates took seats on empty chairs and barrels. Although Elie was offered some bacon, pancakes, and eggs, she turned them all down, but she did drink some of the orange juice that was offered. Shanks ordered her to eat, but she still refused to eat. The other pirates took this as an opportunity to take what she didn't want for themselves.

Elie and Shanks left for school at the same time and by the time they got to their class, everyone, even Lynn, was there.

Lynn wrinkled her nose as she walked up to Elie and said, "Eew! You stink! Why don't you wear any other clothes?"

Maura was nearby, talking to Kyler, and, like Lynn, wrinkled her nose. However, unlike the rude girl, she reached into her bag and pulled out a thin green shirt and some shorts and handed them to Elie. "Change into these." she told Elie, "They should fit you."

Elie took the shorts, stared at Maura, and headed out the classroom for the bathrooms. While she was gone, Shanks turned to Maura and asked, "Why does she listen to you?"

"Secret." Maura said. "So, why are her clothes all muddy and why does she smell like the ocean?"

"She jumped off the docks and sunk to the bottom."

"She what?!" Kurt shouted. Before any answer could be made, the door reopened and Elie walked inside the classroom. She looked better in these clothes than she did in the ones that Shanks' crew gave her the night before while her clothes were wet. These new clothes were still a little loose, but hid the fact that she was practically anorexic.

Kurt walked up to Elie and placed a hand on her bare arm. He leaned his head in towards Elie's ear and whispered something. She nodded and whispered something back. After a minute, Kurt nodded and walked over to Shanks. "You helped her from that bastard?"

Shanks nodded and made a brief explanation of what happened the night before then, unexpectedly, he actually got a "thank you" from Kurt. He knew that it wasn't going to come back again, or at least not any time soon.

The bell rang and slowly, the students headed for their seats. The voice of the Vice Principal came through the intercom, asking everyone to stand and say "The Pledge of Allegiance." Again, nobody stood up and Shanks didn't make them. After the pledge, the actual announcement came:

_Welcome students of Morning Glory High School. Today is March 13, 2007. The weather is sunny. We still have yet to find the culprits who have burned the Anti-Bush messages in the field, so until we find them, the field is off-limits. Also, due to the little confrontation between the play members and the track team, so until further notice, if any students that have no affiliation with the play interrupt, punishment shall be taken._

_This afternoon, at 12:30, we will be having a special assembly and I expect everyone, even the students in room 314, to attend. We all need to talk about the seriousness of the field vandalism. _

_On a happier note, Happy Birthday to James Wilkins and Xavier Samson. _

_This concludes the announcements for today._

All of the students in room 314 groaned. When asked why they were so upset, almost all of them answered at the same time, "We have to go to a damn assembly."

"So, what are assemblies anyway?" Shanks asked.

"They're a complete waste of time…just like the ITED that all the ninth graders are forced to take." Johnny answered, "Everyone in the school crams themselves into the gym and has to listen to a big lecture. That, or they have to watch a bunch of cheerleaders dancing around, cheering about absolutely nothing."

"Hey, we cheerleaders do a lot for this school, so you better show us more respect!" Lynn shouted at Johnny. She turned to Shanks and said sweetly, "I was a cheerleader for this school."

"What happened to make you stop?" Shanks asked.

"I got pregnant." Lynn answered in a depressed tone. "But they told me I could go back on the team as soon as I could. Maybe next year when this play we're doing is over with and after the rejects confess to what they did."

"Okay, well. Sorry guys, but our fighting lesson will have to be put off again since the field is still off limits. If you want it to be okay, then one of you will have to just say 'Ah, screw it.' and just say that you know who did it and say that the rejects did it." Shanks said.

Nobody wanted to and by the way their bodies stiffened, they showed that they had no intention of telling who did it no matter how much they wanted or didn't want to continue with their fighting lessons.

"Okay, fine. Be that way, since I don't feel like doing any math or science in the morning, today your assignment is to draw a memory you have and I want a real memory, not something you saw on TV and I want you to explain what the memory is. Now, get your supplies."

Everyone but Kurt and Elie stood up and headed for the cabinet that held the art supplies. They grabbed papers and a box of colored pencils each before returning to their desks and sitting down.

Shanks turned to Kurt and Elie and said, "Didn't you guys hear me? Get your supplies." The two didn't move. Shanks turned to Elie, "You better do as I say, Elie. I saved you last night and you might not get off easy next time."

Elie glared at him and he glared right back at her. Finally, she gave in, knowing that he was right and if he had not come along when he did the night before, she would have been dead. Reluctantly, she headed for the art cabinet and grabbed two pieces of paper and a box of colored pencils. However, rather than heading for her own desk, she went to a different one with an empty seat next to it. Kurt sat in the empty seat. Elie gave him a paper and split the pencils with Kurt and they both began drawing with everyone else.

Soon, the only sound heard was the "hmmm…"s of a few random students as they thought of what to draw or what to add to their pictures and the scratching of colored pencils on the papers.

Shanks told them to stop drawing about an hour and a half later, long after most of the students finished their pictures. As he told them to stop, Victoria was putting a few little final touches on her drawing, but then stopped what she was doing and placed her pencils on top of the desk, following everyone else's example. "Good. Now, I want you to show me your pictures and tell me what they mean and, like before, we're going alphabetically." he announced.

Maura let out a soft groan before muttering, "I'm changing my last name." She held up her picture and showed it to her teacher. Her picture was rather badly drawn and it was pretty obvious that she was not an artist, or if she was one, she was not a good one. On her paper, it looked like a huge tree with a wooden slide going right through the middle, swings on the branches, and many red fruits on the free branches. "We once had a tree like this in Middleview Park. About forty-five years ago, when my dad was a teen, the people of this town took the largest tree, sawed a big hole through the middle and, with some lumber and metal poles, made a slide going through it. They also put swings on the branches, so when kids swung, the apples from the trees would drop. I used to play down there a lot when I was a kid. It was destroyed about ten years ago due to arson. The culprit was never caught." When she stopped her explanation, she put the picture down.

Larry held up his picture. It was about as badly drawn as Maura's was, but his actually had people in it. Two young men were in front of Morning Glory High with cans in their hands, painting something on the walls. "Yesterday, during the interrogation, I said that I vandalized the school one year back with Maura's brother, Adam. Around ten years ago, Adam and I got a detention for a lunch fight we didn't think we deserved, so the day after the detention, we grabbed cans of spray paint and sprayed messages on the side of the school. Unfortunately, Manson was around and caught us. We were suspended for a week. Our parents were pissed." Larry explained. He put his picture down.

Kyler then held up his picture. It was also about as badly drawn as Maura and Larry's pictures. In a shaky pencil line was a picture of Kyler dressed in a brown trench coat with three other guys also in trench coats and a girl dressed in a shirt and jeans. Kyler was holding a small tube at the girl. "Last year I was with three other guys and we were going to moon this president. I took some girl's lipstick to write 'I hate the fuzz' on my ass and in this picture I'm handing the lipstick back to the girl." Kyler explained.

"…Kyler, that was last week's episode of _That 70's show_." Johnny told him.

"…I didn't think you watched that show." Kyler said.

Johnny held up his picture. It was a little better drawn than Maura and Larry's pictures and was honestly, a bit more interesting. There was a bed with three people sitting on it: a large person on the far left side and two smaller people on the far right side. The far left side was close to the ground while the far right was up in the air. There was a fourth person sitting on a nearby chair.

"Somehow, I'm afraid to ask." Shanks said.

Kyler, Victoria, Larry, and Maura walked up and looked at the picture. Almost immediately, Maura and Kyler started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Shanks asked.

"Two years ago, Kyler's cousin Lisa came to visit and she was huge. The next day Maura and I were over at Kyler's house. Maura and Kyler were sitting on the far left side of the bed while I sat on a chair. Both were watching as Kyler played _Final Fantasy IX_. Then Lisa came in and asked what we were doing. When we told her what we were doing, she came in and sat on the opposite side of the bed. Her side went down, the other side went up and she broke the bed. It was funny." Johnny explained.

Victoria gladly held up her picture. On it were about four people on a stage: a blonde man, a green-haired girl, a curly blonde girl, and a black-haired man. The green-haired girl was laying on the ground with a sword in her chest while the other three surrounded her. "A few years ago, a drama class in middle school performed _The Saviour in Blue_. This was one of their favorite scenes." Victoria explained.

It was now Elie's turn. The smallest girl held up her picture like she didn't care what was on it. At first it was hard to see what was drawn on the picture because there were so many items were everywhere and Shanks just couldn't see what her memory could be. "My life has no meaning and no use for memories." Elie simply explained emotionlessly.

"…that's it? In this hour and a half of working, this is all you did?" Shanks asked.

Elie nodded, "I told you, I have no use for memories."

The room was silent for a few minutes before Lynn held up her picture with a smile on her face. Her picture was nicely drawn and extremely bright and pink. It had Lynn sitting on a large throne surrounded by lots of people. "Seven years ago, I became the Apple Blossom Princess here on Starlight Island. I was the star of the parade and everyone had to listen to me." Lynn explained with pride. Nobody really cared.

"Okay, Kurt. You're last. Show us what you got." Shanks told the final student.

Kurt held up his drawing. All that was on the paper was a thick, black "x". "My dreams and memories are not mine to keep." Kurt explained.

"That's all? Just one x in the hour and a half I gave for you to actually draw something? You did less than Elie did." Shanks exclaimed. Kurt didn't say anything, but Elie did.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Elie shouted.

Shanks ignored what Elie had said and chose to ignore the picture Kurt had drawn. Instead, he decided to continue on with one of the lessons he started. It had been a while since everyone was reading their book of _Howl's Moving Castle_, so maybe it was a good time to get started on chapter two of the book. Like before, he read the first page and a half of the second chapter before handing it down the rows while everyone reading at their own paces.

It was easy to tell that the class was growing bored of what was going on. When someone was reading, the others sat in their desks either writing, drawing, or just almost falling asleep. "Hey! You guys better start paying attention to what's going on because there is going to be a test on this book!" Shanks shouted. It was a lie. He wasn't even really paying attention to what was going on in the book, but still nobody listened to him. In fact, the only way they actually made a noise to show that they were all paying attention to something was when the bell rang for lunch. The noise was their feet hitting the ground as they jumped out of their desks and ran out of the room for lunch.

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A/N: Well, that's chapter 16. Hope you enjoyed it.


	17. Kyler and Johnny Save the Assembly

Ch. 17- Kyler and Johnny Save the Assembly

Lunch went by the same way that it did the first day of the storm after most of the students left. The students that were around were talking amongst each other, eating their food. The talking was broken when a loud voice shouted, "Food fight!"

Shanks walked into the cafeteria right when food was being thrown around. Kyler and Johnny were nowhere to be seen and all three lunch ladies were leaving their stands to attempt to stop the fight. Thankfully, the fight only lasted about twenty minutes after all the food was plastered on the walls, floors, and most of the students' clothes and was no longer able to be thrown.

All of the students sat down in their seats and continued eating and talking as if nothing happened. Kyler and Johnny were still nowhere to be seen. They were actually gone for the rest of lunch. When they finally reappeared, the students were returning to their classes and they met their class at the halfway point of the stairs.

"Where were you two?" Shanks asked as soon as everyone got into the class.

"We…had some business to take care of." Kyler explained.

"And that business was?"

Kyler didn't answer that, but Johnny did. "We promised to help out with the assembly. There was a machine malfunction and I helped take care of it. Kyler was with me to move the machine so I could be sure that it was good and could move."

Shanks was a little skeptical about this and he showed that he was by raising an eyebrow. If Johnny and Kyler were to be coming up with excuses, they would have to be the hell of a lot better than the one Johnny just told him.

Johnny could apparently tell what the look was saying. "I'm serious. If you don't believe me, ask Manson, but I have a feeling it's going to be hard finding him since he's already waiting to open the gym doors for the assembly to start. "

Shanks still didn't believe him, not only about the excuse, but also about Manson, but he found out that the excuse about Manson being in the gym was likely true. The time on the clock said 12:25 and the voice of the vice-principal came over the intercom saying, "Attention staff and students. Please leave for the assembly in the gym. All students are to be seated with their teachers on the bleachers. Principal Manson will be meeting you in the gym to start the assembly." Okay, so the second part of what Johnny said was true, but Shanks still didn't believe him about the part about working with machines.

"Okay, guys. Line up, now! We're going down to the gym!"

Lazily and unenthusiastically, all eight lined up and walked down the stairs and towards the gymnasium. By the time they got there, the gym was half filled with students and teachers. On the outside of the door, were two large wire baskets full of paper bags with something inside. On the outside of the baskets was a note in Manson's handwriting reading, "Do not open or use until the guest stands in front of the podium." The nine of them grabbed a bag and entered the room.

As soon as all of the eight entered the gym, Elie, Kurt, and Lynn headed off in their own directions. Lynn headed to the far left side of the wall with the bleachers and sat with her little clique. Kurt and Elie sat in the far left corner of the bleachers, where nobody else was.

"Nobody ever listens when they tell us to stay together for assemblies. We all just go our own ways." Victoria explained to Shanks before taking a seat on the middle part of the bleachers with Kyler, Maura, Johnny, and Larry. Shanks joined her and waited for this "assembly" to start.

As everyone waited, Shanks took this time to look around the gym. The right side of the building still had its bleachers folded up into the wall, likely because nobody was going to be using them. A podium and microphones were standing in front of the folded up bleachers, around the center of the building. To the left of the podium were four chairs with three people seated: two men and a girl holding a saxophone. To the right of the podium was a large canvas cover and a machine.

As soon as everyone was inside, Manson came in and walked up to the podium and spoke into the microphone, "Welcome students of _Morning Glory High School_. Please stand while our national anthem is played by Natalie Ray." He stepped away from the podium and the girl with the saxophone came up.

The girl took a deep breath, brushed her long, black hair behind her ears, and placed the instrument up to her deep red lips. The first few measures of the song sounded nice, but when she tried making the song extra jazzy, that's when things started turning a bit sour. The notes began to turn into squeaks and her dark cheeks began to turn red. A few times her fingers slipped and she played the wrong key. By the time she was done, most of the people on the bleachers were covering their ears. When the music stopped, they removed their hands and cheered, not because they loved the performance but because it was over. The girl went back to her chair and sat back down.

Manson walked back up to the podium, "Thank you, Miss Ray. Now, to start with the assembly. I know to some of you vandalism may seem like a fun thing, but I assure you that it is no laughing matter. Just repairing the damage can cost up to hundreds of dollars not to mention that the action could be hurtful to others. Our last act of vandalism was ten years ago when two students spray painted a very hurtful message on the side of the school. The cost of that action was $200. However, now this has gone too far. If you insult our president, then you are insulting our country and I will not have anyone insulting our country! So, if any of you want to confess, speak now and no punishment shall be given." Nobody stood up, not even those that knew who did it. Manson was not at all happy, "You are all making a huge mistake. We have a very special guest here to talk about the importance of being an American. Retired Navy Colonel and mayor of Starlight Island, Mr. David Boyer."

While most of the students clapped and cheered when Manson walked from the podium and one of the two sitting men went to the podium, Kyler, Johnny, Maura, Victoria, and Larry groaned softly.

"What's wrong with him?" Shanks asked.

"Mayor Boyer used to grow up with Maura, Victoria, and my fathers. He thinks he can go anywhere and do anything because he's rich. He invites his children to any birthday party with no presants even if they aren't invited." Kyler answered.

"He even invites him and his wife on anniversaries that aren't theirs. A few years ago, Victoria's parents were going to Hawaii for their anniversary and the mayor invited him and his wife to go along, too and because he said that the two were with Victoria's parents they had a horrible anniversary." Maura added.

"He thinks that because he is a retired Navy Colonel, he knows everything about this country. I even heard that he wants to be the President of this country." Larry added.

"He is so arrogant and rude that it's almost unbearable." Victoria added.

"He's an asshole." Johnny finished.

Shanks looked at the new man on the podium. He certainly did look like the stuck up, arrogant types. He wore a dark green outfit with metals on it. His hair was a salt-and-pepper black and white and a look that read "I'm better and know more than you, so you'd better bow to me and kiss the very ground I walk on or else." on his face.

The man's voice was very deep, deeper than Shanks thought it would be when he started to speak, "What you have done is a horrible crime. After what happened, I must say that I am appauled! I fought in two very important wars to defend this country and this is the thanks we get. And to make things worse, you decide to join the sides of those who are unpatriotic and insult our president. It sickens me!"

"He seems to know what he's talking about." Shanks whispered to Victoria.

"Just wait. He'll start to mix up what he's saying because he doesn't really know what he's talking about." Victoria answered.

"What you have done makes you un-American! As you know, real Americans are ambidextrous." The mayor shouted. Real Americans could use both hands equally well? That didn't sound very good.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves! I suppose you haven't fully learned what it means to be a true American. That's why I have taken time off from work…" the mayor continued.

"Yeah, stuffing his face of éclairs and doughnuts." Maura muttered.

"To talk to you and show you this important video of what it's like to live in a country based upon freedom!" the mayor finished.

As he finished, Manson and the other man moved the large canvas in front of the podium and placed a little machine in front of it. The lights were dimmed and the machine turned on. It looked like some sort of TV show, but it seemed so much different. The camera was a tad bit shaky, sometimes the color was a bit pale, the mayor's voice was talking the entire time about being an American, and most of the shots actually had the mayor in them.

The little "movie" didn't exactly make much sense either. It talked about wars and freedom, but because the movie was mostly based upon the mayor and his actions, the messages were hidden behind the mayor's life. It dragged on for a half an hour before it finally ended. The canvas and machine was moved out of the way and the mayor took his spot back on the podium.

"Now, what have you all learned from this movie?" the mayor asked. Nobody said anything. "Come on. Anybody?" he asked again. Like before, nobody said anything because they _hadn't_ learned anything. This greatly displeased the mayor and he didn't know why. "You are all completely un-American! Your families should be ashamed of you! That's why, starting next week, there will be a new rule for Starlight Island. Anyone proven to be un-American will be forced to pay a small tax of $50, especially students of _Morning Glory High School_."

It was at that very second, all the students dug into their bags and brought the tomatoes inside. Then, they all, even the rich students, booed and hurled the tomatoes at the mayor, most hitting him and turning him into a tomatoey mess. After all the tomatoes have been thrown, the students began laughing hysterically. Shanks joined them. A bunch of the rich students took out their cellphones and pointed them at Manson.

"What are they doing?" Shanks asked.

"They have camera phones. They're taking pictures of the mayor." Johnny explained through laughs. Well, he _did_ look pretty funny.

It was difficult to see if the man was turning red from underneath the tomatoes, but it definitely sounded like he was when he began to shout over the microphone about disrespect and being "un-American". Nobody was paying attention to him as he rambled on for another half an hour. When he left the podium, he did not move back to his seat, he stomped out of the gymnasium and refused to come back.

Manson walked back on the podium and he did not look pleased. "That was our mayor. I know you did not like what he did, but that is absolutely no reason for you to do something like that to an American hero. What you did is almost as bad as the vandalism of the school's field. Mark my words: if any of this happens again to a guest of ours, you will all suffer! Do I make myself clear?" he shouted through the microphone.

All of the students responded back unenthusiastically, "Yes, Principal Manson."

"Good. Now, we have one more guest: Mr. Frank Smith, the leader of the Board of Education. Do not throw anything at him!" Manson ordered. He left the podium and the other man walked back up.

The other man didn't look as stuck up as the mayor, but he still looked like the type that refused to take anything from anybody. He was dressed in a drab gray business suit, his hazel eyes were sharp and his dirty blonde hair was short and cleanly cut. He did not have a smile on his face. "The vandalism to this school is completely inexcusable. Because of this, the money to pay for this damage would have to come out of the school."

Johnny smirked and pulled a remote control with only six buttons on it out of his pocket.

"Johnny, what's that?" Shanks asked.

Johnny smirked and pressed one of the buttons. A loud, muffled squeak came from the podium. The students chuckled.

"When I was a student going to this school, we would never do something like this even if we did disagree with what our president happened to be doing!" Frank continued.

Johnny pushed a button next to the last one he pressed. This time, a normal farting sound came out of the podium. The chuckles turned into giggles.

Frank was starting to look irritated. He shouted over the sound, "Whoever's making those sounds better stop!" Johnny didn't press any buttons, so the man continued, "That's better. Now, I want you all to believe that although we live in a country that gives us the freedom to say whatever we want, we must be careful with what we say and how our messages go out…"

Johnny pressed the next button. A loud farting sound came out of the podium. The giggles turned into laughs.

Frank's face was starting to turn a slight pink as he shouted over the noise, "It is childish and completely immature with what is happening…and I don't want to hear any excuses about how things are nowadays…"

Johnny pushed the fourth button and this time, an extremely large fart, one that sounded like someone farted and crapped their pants, came out. The school was in hysterics.

The color in Frank's face began to darken a bit, "So many things are going around and I know that you want to follow in their footsteps, but enough is enough! You, as the future of this country need to learn to do some respect for others…"

"Dude, give me that." Kyler ordered Johnny. Before any action could be made, Kyler grabbed the remote out of Johnny's hands and began to mess around with the controls, pushing down button after button, making fart after fart come out of the podium and making the students laugh so hard they began to cry and had problems breathing.

Frank's face was now a dark red and his body was shaking in anger. He tried screaming over the sound of the farts and laughing students, but nothing else could be heard. He screamed for a good fifteen minutes before finally giving up. Without warning, he stepped away from the podium and stomped out of the door and refused to come back.

Manson came back onto the podium and he looked just as angered as Frank did before he left. Johnny grabbed the remote from Kyler and the noises stopped. Eventually the laughing stopped, too.

"That was the leader of the school board! You do not do something like that to someone that important. The mayor was one thing, but the school board is a whole different story! I want you all to head back to your classes for the rest of the day and mark my words: if we do not find who did either the vandalism or the damage to today's assembly, everyone will pay!" Manson shouted.

At that second, everyone on the bleachers walked from their spots and headed back to their classes. Johnny hid his remote in his pocket so nobody would see it. When Shanks and the eight of his students made it inside of the classroom, Shanks immediately closed the door and ripped the remote out of Johnny's pocket.

"Is this what you've really been doing? Rigging the podium and giving tomatoes for everyone to use?" he asked.

"We did say that we were going to help with the assembly." Johnny answered.

"How is getting tomatoes to throw at the guests and rigging the podium to make farting sounds helping out with the assembly?" Shanks asked.

"We saved the assembly." Johnny answered back.

"Saved it? How did you save the assembly?"

"Most of the assemblies we have are boring as hell. They're all just long lectures out of boring old men and end in a Q and A. We had to save it by making it interesting." Kyler explained.

"Nobody has even thrown anything at an assembly except for the start of the year pep rally when a few random students from different grades have to play little games like throwing things at another person in their grade. The tomatoes stood for something different and a little revenge on the mayor." Johnny explained.

"And what about the podium?" Shanks asked.

"I rigged the podium to do something that no school has ever done before. It was very easy. I just took this old toy that used to belong to my little brother and just fixed it so that the remote control could make different sounds from a longer distance than before." Johnny said proudly.

"So, what do you think is going to happen when Manson finds out what you've done to the assembly?" Shanks asked.

"He's not going to find out unless someone in this class is a snitch and tells on us." Kyler answered. All eight eyes of the students looked at Shanks, as if accusing him of being the class snitch.

"I'm not going to be saying anything to anyone, but you heard Manson. If nobody admits to what happened, everyone's going to suffer the punishment."

"Like we said, he's not going to find out. The only way he's going to find out is if somebody turns into a snitch. Besides, the mayor deserved to be pelted with tomatoes for being a jerk and the school board guy deserved what he got." Johnny said.

"Why did the guy from the school board deserve what he got?" Shanks asked.

"He's an asshole, that's why. Trust me. Nothing's going to happen to anyone unless another person, probably the rejects again, pulls a stupid prank to get everyone in trouble." Kyler said.

Kyler was right about the mayor deserving what he got. If Shanks had grabbed one of the bags, he would have thrown a tomato at the mayor too after that tax. Besides, the man thought he was all that and people like that deserved to be humiliated. It was one of the rules of being a pirate, but why did they have something against the school board guy?

"And what did the school board guy do to be an asshole?" Shanks asked.

"He's the one that made room 314 and he's responsible for the money that goes to certain parts of the school and half of the leftover money he has, he uses for his own luxuries." Maura answered.

"Well, that really does seem like something an asshole would do." Shanks admitted. "And it was funny what you did. Good work."

The bell rang and, without hesitation, everyone headed out of the room and back to the cafeteria, where they were met by the other playmembers.

"I have good news and bad news." Victoria announced, "We have found someone to make new costumes and she said that I have to show her pictures of what I want the costumes to look like and she'll draw them." The play members cheered. "But, there is a catch. We all need to pay for materials. Today when I give the drawings to the designer, she will tell me how much it will cost and I will use that to figure out how much the cost per person will be. Is that alright with everyone?"

The other play members didn't seem to mind. They kept cheering, saying, "Yes! New costumes!"

"I don't think they mind." Maura told Victoria.

"I guess you're right. Okay everyone, we will be doing the scene where we enter the forest…" Victoria announced.

_LATER_

The practice for the play went off peacefully. No person that was not in the play bothered anyone and it was not difficult to get to the important parts. In fact, it seemed like the rest of the day and evening got along well with everyone else. The practice was a success, the weather was nicer than it was the day before, and Shanks didn't have to worry about bringing any stray kids to stay at his ship for the night.

The weather was just as nice the next day, but it wouldn't take long for the day to turn from sweet to sour. There were a lot of cars parked around the school when Shanks walked up to it. Not only that, but the side of the school was spray painted with messages about the leader of the school board calling him names like "bastard", "asshole", and other names that were ten times worse. The inside was even more of a mess. Papers were taped all over the walls with painted messages insulting the leader of the school board on them. All the walls, shelves, and cabinets were covered in toilet paper. The part of the school that held the lockers was completely spray painted. Not a single locker wasn't spray painted.

Every student of the school he came across was not happy about this incident. If anything, they were extremely pissed off. With the painted lockers, because some of the paint went over the vents, the paint got inside and ruined a few items inside, some belonging to the school and some belonging to the student. Some of the paint from the pictures in the hall went through the paper and onto either the wall or poster it covered and some of the posters were priceless. Lynn and her little group were crying because of the paint from the papers. One of the posters was destroyed and it was a very important poster. "That was a poster of us cheerleaders winning second at last year's competition." Lynn explained through tears.

As Shanks walked to the stairs, he noticed some of the uniformed men that came across Kyler's car the first day Shanks had ever met Kyler and Maura, talking to a few random students, asking questions and getting answers.

Kyler, Maura, Johnny, Victoria, Kurt, Elie, and Larry were already in the room, talking amongst each other about the way the school looked. So far, only Kurt and Elie didn't look upset about what was going on with the school. They looked like they didn't really care.

"Okay, before anybody says anything, I want you to tell me the truth. I know about what you did at the assembly yesterday, but did any of you cause any of this damage?" Shanks asked.

With no hesitation, all seven shook their heads.

"The things Kyler and I did yesterday were nothing but harmful pranks. We wouldn't do any actual damage to the school. It takes up too much time and besides, most of our parents would kill us if we really did do something like this." Johnny admitted.

An uneasy feeling overcame Shanks as he remembered the students in the halls answering questions by the men. The same thing happened a few days earlier, when the field was vandalized. The students of his class were sent to the office because they were accused of doing the damage and he had a feeling it was going to happen again. Shanks answered, "Somehow, I don't think you're going to be getting away that easy."

He couldn't have been more right. As soon as he finished saying that sentence, a group of the men barged in and began grabbing the students and handcuffing them from behind. "You seven are under arrest for the threatening of Frank Smith and the severe vandalism of _Morning Glory High School_. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law…" one of the men said over the shouts of protest from the seven students.

Shanks followed the group of men as the led the seven handcuffed students out of the school and into a large black truck. He shouted at Manson that he was going with them to make sure that nothing was happening with them. He walked into the truck and closed the door behind him and felt the bumps of the rocks and branches as the truck sped off to a destination unknown to the pirate.

0000000000000

A/N: Well, that's chapter 17…and yes, that does mean that they have been sent down to the police station.


	18. The Ugliest School Uniforms Ever

Ch. 18- The Ugliest School Uniforms Ever

"I thought you guys said you didn't do anything other than the tomatoes and the podium thing yesterday." Shanks hissed.

"We didn't. Somebody must have accused us of doing it." Larry answered, "Like what happened a few days ago."

Shanks looked around at the seven of his students. Kurt and Elie looked emotionless. Johnny and Larry only looked a little bit scared. Kyler, Maura, and Victoria looked scared to hell. "What's the matter with you three?" Shanks asked the three.

"My parents are going to kill us when they find out what happened." Kyler and Victoria answered. At the same time of Kyler and Victoria, Maura said, "My brother's going to kill me when he finds out what happened."

"So, what's the big deal? It's probably going to be a simple interrogation or something. You should be out after some questioning, right?"

"This isn't the school office. Sometimes after questioning, they throw you in the slammer." Johnny answered.

Finally, the truck stopped and the door opened. Two of the uniformed men motioned with their hands for the eight inside to follow them inside a large building with the name _Starlight Police Department_ on a sign in front. They were rudely pushed onto a bench while the two men went to summon more police officers in another room.

Four people came out: three men and a woman…and one of the men was not at all happy when he came across the group. "Maura Beth!" the unhappy man shouted.

"What's your brother doing here?" Shanks asked Maura.

"Adam's a correctional officer. I guess he's going to be one of the interrogators." Maura answered, sinking into her seat. "I'm dead."

The two men and woman brought each student into a room to do some interrogating. From outside the door, Shanks overheard most of what was going on. Larry, Johnny, and Victoria's interrogation went on pretty calmly. Questions were asked and calmly answered without any frustrated shouting. Kyler's interrogation was a little bit calm, but had a few occasional shouts from the interrogators. Kurt and Elie's interrogation was full of silent pauses, soft answers, and shouting questions. Maura's was one of the worst. Every question was shouted at her by her brother while she screamed her answers, claiming that she didn't do the damage and was with Kyler, Victoria, and Johnny most of the night of the vandalism.

By the time the interrogation ended, it was close to 2:00 and everyone was starving as they had not gotten around to eating lunch. Everyone's story had checked out and since nobody admitted that they had done anything and there was no proof that they had done anything, the seven were forced to be let free. They even got a free ride back to the school in the same vehicle with Shanks also inside.

"We'll talk about this when we both get home, Maura Beth." Adam told Maura before closing the door of the truck.

"This is just fucking great." Maura muttered as the truck began to move, "My brother finally decides to notice me and it's when I get wrongfully accused to vandalizing a school."

"This is the worst week of my life." Kyler agreed.

"I can't believe that it's possible that the week could get worse." Victoria also agreed.

The truck finally stopped and the door opened. Quickly, the eight in the truck piled out and headed for the front door of the school. Different faces came from the windows from the many students in the school. They quickly disappeared and before the previously arrested students of room 314 made it to the stairs, they were surrounded by multiple students from different rooms throwing multiple questions like "What happened?", "Did you really do it?", and "What was it like going to the jail?"

Nobody answered the questions as they headed up to room 314, where Lynn was nowhere to be seen, and sat in their own seats. There was only going to be a half an hour before the final bell rang, so there was really nothing really to teach that would take up a half hour. The room was completely silent until the final bell rang and they all headed down to the cafeteria for rehearsals.

The questions about the police station returned as soon as the students and teacher from room 314 entered the cafeteria. They were coming by so quickly that it was practically impossible to tell who was asking what or even where the question was coming from. Victoria frantically looked at the group of students that crowded around her and the others from room 314.

"Victoria, do something." Maura hissed.

"What can I do?" Victoria cried.

"You're the director of this play. Just do something to shut them up." Shanks said.

Victoria looked around and saw a table next to her. Maybe if she stood up on it, she could have the other students focus their attention on her and the questions would stop. It was worth a try. She raised her hand in the air as soon as she climbed on top of the table and the noise quieted before eventually stopping. "Please hold off all questions not related to the play until after rehearsals. Now, are there any questions about the play?" Nobody asked anything. "Good. Then we can get on with rehearsals. I would like to start off with the part where the king sends his daughter to Lavaria. So Lynn, Mr. Shanks, and the castle guards, get up onto the stage…"

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

"Hey, guess what." Maura said immediately as soon as everyone in room 314 entered.

"You're pregnant with Kyler's child?" Shanks asked.

Maura and Kyler both glared at him. "Shut up, bastard." Maura told him. She then smiled and said, "All of us are off the hook for the vandalism."

"What? We are? What happened?" came from every direction.

"Not long after we left the police station, the school brought their surveillance tapes so the cops looked through them and since Adam pretty much knows everyone in this class, he compared the four on the tape and although the faces were mostly covered by those raccoon masks, he was able to tell that none of them were us." Maura explained.

"He did? How did he know?" Shanks asked out of curiosity.

"Well, there were two girls and two guys. In this class, all the guys with the exception of Johnny are taller than the girls. Johnny is taller than me, but shorter than Victoria. In the tape, both girls were taller than the boys, both girls had hair that went down their backs, and they were kids so that ruled out Elie, Kyler, Kurt, Larry, and me. These cameras were in color, so it caught the hair color of all of the four kids. One boy had green dyed hair, another boy was blonde, and both girls had light brown hair. Johnny's hair is black, Victoria's is dark brown, and Lynn's hair is blonde, so that ruled them out. So I hope that Manson comes by with an apology for all of us for sending the cops after us."

Manson did not come by for an apology. In fact, nobody apologized for what happened. If anything, they seemed even more ticked at what happened and still blamed the students of room 314 for the vandalism, well all of them but Lynn who was never really accused in the first place.

An emergency assembly was called about twenty minutes after lunch ended and none of the students in the school were looking forward to whatever was going to be going on. As Shanks led his students down the stairs from the class to the gymnasium, a feeling over came his body. It was a bad feeling, like the one he got at the last assembly. Something bad was going to happen and it would affect the students. Whatever was going to happen, Shanks had a feeling that he wouldn't be hearing the end of it from the students of his.

The gym was once again filled with the students on the bleachers. The podium was there, but Johnny's invention was taken off and no tomatoes were present. There were two chairs next to the podium and seated in both of them were Manson and the leader of the school board. They had frowns on their faces, but the look in their eyes showed that they had a plan for the school…and it wasn't going to be a good one, either.

After every student and teacher sat and quieted down, Manson walked up to the podium. No anthem like two days before came. Instead, the man went right to business. Taking a deep breath, he began his announcement, "This vandalism has been going on long enough. We have sent the same seven people in for questioning because of accusations and whether they really have done it or not, the vandalism has been going on. Whoever has done what happened at the school, because of your actions, now the whole school will be forced to pay for what you have done. That's why, starting Monday, the school will be issued uniforms."

The gym was filled with "what?" s and "No way!"s from the students on the bleachers. Even the rich kids were displeased. The looks could be seen on each and every one of their faces at the sound of the word "uniforms".

"And to tell you about the uniforms is the leader of the school board himself, Mr. Frank Smith." Manson continued with a smirk now on his face.

All the students booed as Frank came up to the podium and Manson went down. A similar smirk came across Frank's face. "Hello students. I never thought the day would come, but _Morning Glory High_ will be the first non-Catholic High School in Washington to wear uniforms on Monday. We've had these uniforms made years ago and now we have an excuse for using them." The man announced to the students. He turned to the left and called, "Come on out here, Erica."

A girl with long, light brown hair stepped through a door to the side of the gymnasium and the way her clothes were made every girl on the bleachers stare at her with their eyes wide and their mouths open. Her shoes were leather colored and hard with no laces. The socks she was wearing were the color of a canary, a very bright yellow. She wore a skirt with the same color as the socks that went passed her knees. Her top was an olive green color, thin and smooth with short sleeves, tucked into the top of the skirt. On her head was an olive green headband with a canary yellow insignia on it. It had to be one of the ugliest things they had ever seen.

"No way…No goddamn fucking way…" Maura said, not taking her eyes off of the uniform.

From next to her, Larry began to laugh, "The girls deserve it." The quick, cold stares of Maura, Victoria, and Elie shut him up.

"And you too, Gregory." Frank continued.

A boy came out of the same door Erica came out of. His hair was short and white-blonde. His clothes made the boys stare with open eyes and mouths. He wore the same leather-brown as the shoes Erica wore and the socks were the same color, too. However, rather than wear a skirt like Erica, he wore a suit. The bottom, or pants, of the suit were the canary yellow color of Erica's skirt. The top was a thin olive green T-shirt with longer sleeves than the girl's uniforms and looked a little more like a boy's shirt. On the boy's head was an olive-green beret with the same yellow insignia on it as Erica's headband.

"Dude…what the fuck?" Kyler said in shock as his eyes stared at the boy's uniform.

"No way…" Johnny added.

"I'm afraid it's true. We girls have to suffer, so you boys must, too." Victoria answered.

"They can't be serious. Those are the ugliest things I have ever seen." Maura said. Everyone around her nodded their heads in agreement.

"You only have tomorrow as your day to wear whatever you want. Tomorrow, we will be calling each and every one of you down to the office to take uniform measurements. Those who fail to show up will be rewarded in a week of ISS and we will get your measurements from your parents." Manson announced as he came back onto the podium.

"What's ISS?" Shanks whispered to Johnny and Victoria.

"It stands for _In School Suspension_. It's like class, but all you do is fill out forms and have to be quiet all day." Johnny explained.

Manson's assembly went on, half covered by the groans and shouts of anger from the students in the bleachers. Had the students had tomatoes like they did yesterday, they would have thrown them all at Manson, Frank, and the two students wearing the butt-ugly uniforms on their bodies. But for now, groaning and shouting was the only thing they could do in form of protest.

As soon as the assembly ended, the students piled out angrily complaining about the new uniforms that were required. As soon as the students of room 314 got into the classroom, that's when the complaints got worse.

"Mr. Shanks, please tell us that you don't agree with the uniforms." Victoria begged.

"Yes, please. They are so ugly. Those are the types of clothes people wear that want to get beat up." Maura added.

"Good. That way, since all of you are wearing the same clothes, nobody would be able to beat you up because they'd be dressed the same as you." Shanks said. Although he meant what he had said, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea for them to be stuck with ugly uniforms. The kids were going to look like freaks and although it would be fun, it might backfire with the teachers being forced to wear the same things as the students. "Okay, shut up about the damn uniforms. Maybe it will teach you little bastards to get in shape." This was going to be a long day…

_**FRIDAY**_

Friday, March 16th had to be one of the longest Fridays ever and probably the most uneventful. It was also one of the first Fridays that gave Shanks a headache two minutes after he entered the school building. The girls and gays of the school were dressed in as little clothing they could wear without being naked. Most of the girls wore short shorts or skirts with little skimpy tops and walked around in heels. The gays pretty much wore very tight shorts and weird pink shirts. Most of the guys, the straight guys, walked around with jeans with holes around the kneecaps or the bottom of the pant legs and shirts that endorsed things like beer, cigarettes, or bands. The shirt Johnny was wearing had a crow eating flesh off of an amputated hand.

The girls, or the ones that were dressed in skimpy clothes, were complaining of how cold it was inside, which was their fault completely for wearing hardly anything in the month of March. Their complaints about the cold were followed by the guy's complaints about the stupid uniforms. The girl's complaints about the cold changed into the guy's complaints when all that was talked about the damn uniforms.

It was even harder to continue with the day after the first bell rang and Shanks met up with his students in room 314 on the top floor. After about a half an hour of getting half of the class to shut up, he made a little announcement that because he had a talk with Manson the day before, the teachers were not required for the uniforms. That little announcement got the original class complainers groaning. However, Victoria made up for it when she claimed that she was told that the play members did not have to wear their uniforms for the play, but they did have to wear what Victoria wanted, no exceptions.

The door opened at about 10:15, in which the school nurse, another woman, and two men came in. The nurse and the other woman were holding clipboards while the men were carrying what looked like a folded up piece of thick cardboard. When the folded up cardboard was unfolded, it was revealed to be a little changing room. Alphabetically, the names of the students were called into the changing room while the nurses took measurements on the students while trying to fight back if some of the students fought back.

The measurements took probably about an hour not because Kurt and Elie were fighting back with the nurses, but because Lynn was arguing about her weight, claiming that she was taller than 5' 6'' and weighed less than 150 pounds. Although she was measured and weighed five times, she still refused to believe the weight the school was giving her. She even tried to say that she weighed ninety pounds, five pounds less than Elie, who was clearly the lightest and thinnest in the class. After explaining that the measurements could not be changed, the women and men left with their little closet and just in time. It was only fifteen more minutes until lunchtime.

The lunchroom was louder than it usually was. Almost every person that was talking tried to talk louder than the others in the room. The sound even echoed to the teacher's lounge. Because so many voices were mingled with each other, it was practically impossible to tell what was being said.

The sound even covered up the bell to end lunch so nobody at all in the lunchroom heard it. Shanks could barely hear it and was not at all surprised when his students showed up in the classroom an hour after the tardy bell rang. It didn't bother him all that much, though. The room was quiet and that's what he liked.

By the time the door opened and his students calmly and coolly walked into the room, the clock read 12:15. They were forty-five minutes late and most brought a chunk of the lunchroom noise with them. The quiet was now gone.

"You're all late." Shanks said boredly.

At the same time, every single student of his said, "…so?" Apparently they didn't really care. Shanks didn't either. They were gone for a good amount of time and that was good enough even though they brought some of the noise with them.

The noise did not quiet down at all. Kyler, Victoria, Johnny, and Maura got together in a section of seats and began talking amongst each other quite loudly and laughing when they assumed somebody said something funny. Lynn chose to be alone in a seat in the far left corner of the room, talking into her cell phone about the way that some other girls looked and dressed. Kurt and Elie were almost silent. They sat at the opposite side of the room as Lynn, whispering amongst each other about something. The noise continued until the bell rang, in which everyone then headed, at their own paces, towards the cafeteria for rehearsals for the play.

_**MONDAY**_

Like the last weekend, this weekend went by quickly with no important things happening. It didn't bother Shanks. Thanks to this new uniform business, the others in the class probably spent the whole weekend bitching at their families because of what happened. Perhaps today, they would be all bitched out.

It seemed that way when he made it inside the school on Monday morning. Everybody seemed quiet, or at least they were when Shanks came around. The halls looked like a huge pile of yellow, green, and angry faces. In the eyes of the angry faces was a hint of jealousy.

He made it up to his room and saw three of the eight of his students standing in the classroom. The ones in the room happened to be Kurt, Elie, and Larry. Not one of the three were smiling and although the uniforms did a good job of hiding the bruises on Kurt and Elie and made Elie look not as anorexic as she had looked before, the uniforms were really starting to look uglier than they were before. The three took a quick glance at Shanks before Kurt and Elie began talking to each other again and Larry sat at his own desk, writing on a piece of paper.

The bell rang shortly after and a very reluctant Kyler, Maura, Victoria, Johnny, and Lynn walked into the room wearing the exact same uniforms as Kurt, Elie, and Larry. After Shanks looked at eight of them, he found that the uniforms hadn't really done anything to help the five that came in, thus making them possibly the ugliest clothes he had ever seen. They all looked like they were some type of golden animal, like a canary or something, that went and threw up green chunks on itself. They even had the disgusted faces the animal might have after it realized what it had done.

"This is all your fault, you know that? If you wouldn't have used that machine to make those farting sounds, we wouldn't be stuck wearing these stupid, ugly uniforms." Lynn hissed at Johnny.

"It's not all my fault. If you didn't notice, Kyler was the one that got the tomatoes and handed them to everyone to throw at the mayor." Johnny argued.

Kyler began to laugh, "Yeah, man. That was great."

Lynn ignored Kyler's comment and argued back with Johnny, "You probably manipulated him into going on with your little plan."

"Tell me how I manipulated him." Johnny argued back.

"You used your damn Al Bhed powers to control the school and everyone in it to get this to happen and since Kyler hangs around you more, you infected him with your nonsense so he believes anything you say. Stupid Foreigner."

Johnny stared at her for about five seconds before shouting, "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Says you, Foreigner!" Lynn argued.

"Okay, one: I'm not a Foreigner. I'm from America. Two: The Al Bhed are made up and thus, have no powers. Three: Kyler has a mind of his own. If anyone can control his mind, it's going to have to be Maura."

"That's not true!"

From behind Lynn, Maura said, "Hey, Kyler. Get me my history book."

Lynn, Johnny, and Shanks turned their attention to Maura and Kyler.

Kyler shook his head. "No way."

"Please…" Maura begged. She grabbed onto him and looked into him with puppy-dog eyes.

"…okay." Kyler headed to the storage closet and grabbed a worn book.

"See?" Johnny said, pointing at Kyler.

"That doesn't prove anything. I bet he would do the same thing if you ordered him to do the same thing." Lynn argued.

Johnny looked at Kyler and shouted, "Yo, Kyler! Get me my history book!"

"Bite me!" Kyler responded.

"Come on, dude. Just get me my book."

"Fuck you." Kyler shouted.

Shanks held up his hand and raised his voice, "Okay, okay. That's enough. We all know that the uniforms are the ugliest things in the world, but you brought this all upon yourselves by throwing those tomatoes and laughing at the farts. Now shut up and get in your seats."

Slowly, the students went to their seats, all of them grumbling. Though scattered around the room in tiny groups, it looked like a sea of gold and olive. Lynn sat in front of him and Shanks got a good look at the school insignia on her headband, which was also on top of the other girls' headbands and the boys' hats. It was a flower and whoever made it, looked like they had never even seen a flower before in their lives. It was jagged and messy. It looked ridiculous on both the guys and the girls. It looked ridiculous on the guys because they were wearing an insignia of flowers on their hats and looked ridiculous on the girls because their flowers were messy.

Before anybody could say anything of complaint, the school intercom went off and the sound of the vice-Principal echoed through the rooms of the school:

_Welcome to another glorious day of school at Morning Glory High School. Today is March 19__th__. The weather is partially cloudy. We have still not found the culprit for who did the vandalism of the school. I know you are all upset about what happened, but rest assured, we are doing everything we can to find out who he, she, or they are. This is not a prank that you have been pulling, whoever you are. Not only have you vandalized school property, but you have vandalized the property of the other students. If you know who the culprit is, feel free to come to us to bring the school to justice, but if you do, we want evidence of the person doing the crime. I know most of you guys do not like the students of room 314, but if you think they did it, give evidence._

_Our school uniforms will be mandatory for wearing every day for the rest of the school year. We have even provided special uniforms for Gym purposes. Remember to you're your uniforms with pride, the pride of Morning Glory High School._

_Remember teachers and students: the WASL and ITED are just around the corner. Use this time to prepare your student for their tests. Remember, the WASL is a requirement to graduate. You don't want to be hanging around this school until you're twenty-five just because you weren't able to pass the WASL. All clubs will go on schedule. We have managed to clean up enough of the fielded area to have the clubs going again. Just remember, we will find out who has been doing the vandalism. Oh, and do not bother clubs when they're in session. That includes the school play._

_Also, Happy Birthday to Remy Sallenger. _

_That concludes today's announcements. Have a nice day._

"Okay. Now, for today's starting lesson, we will be learning multiplication." Shanks announced.

"Integers or Decimals?" Johnny asked.

Shanks stared at him for a little. He knew what a decimal was, but had never even heard of an Integer. "Johnny, if this 'integer' is some weird-ass Al Bhed word, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Mr. Shanks, an integer is just a math word for number." Victoria answered.

"Okay, then from now on, we will be calling 'Integers' numbers. I don't want to confuse the other class members like Larry or Kyler."

"Hey!" Kyler and Larry shouted. Larry stayed in his desk, but Kyler took this opportunity to jump out from his seat.

"Dude, that's not cool." Kyler added. An annoyed look was on his face. "I knew what an integer was before Victoria even explained what it was."

"No, you didn't." Maura said.

Before Kyler could response to the comment his girlfriend had made, Lynn jumped up and gave Maura a death glare. "Bitch! Are you calling him stupid?!" she screamed at Maura.

Maura smirked at her and answered coolly, "I never said that, but if you got a problem with it, then I don't care."

"What about Kyler? Don't you ever think that he may be hurt about what you said about him?" Lynn shrieked. She turned to Kyler and asked in a calmer voice, "Aren't you hurt about what she said?"

Kyler smirked and shook his head, "Nope."

"Okay, okay. That ends the argument about Kyler's feelings and the discussion about integers." Shanks went up to the blackboard and grabbed a piece of chalk. He then began to write a few numbers on the board and explained them. "Multiplication is a lot like addition, if those who are smart enough can remember, but this is completely different. First of all if you take a number and multiply it by zero, the number will always be zero and if you multiply a number by one…"

_Whoosh!_ A big, messy, gooey, paper glob flew and hit the blackboard just an inch next to Shanks' hand. Some of the liquid from the glob actually fell onto the hand. He turned his head a quarter turn and saw everyone except for Lynn laughing. "Okay, who did this?" he asked.

Those that laughed stopped, but nobody admitted that they were the ones that thrown the spitball. They all kept poker faces, so it was practically impossible to tell who did it. Shanks rolled his eyes and bravely took the spitball off of the wall and threw it at Victoria, who was giggling the loudest.

Victoria let out a squeal as the spitball hit her cheek. Quickly she grabbed the spitball and, though it was moist and gross, she threw it at Johnny from the other side of the room.

Johnny glared at Victoria as the spitball hit him on the forehead, but smirked anyway. He turned his attention over to Elie, who was laughing at him and threw the spitball at her without thinking of the consequences that could occur due to his attack.

Elie put on an "I'm going to kill you" face as the messy spitball hit her right on the nose, but she didn't kill Johnny. Instead, she grabbed the ball and spit into her hand, moistening it up more and threw it back at Johnny. The target missed and hit Kurt.

If anybody else had thrown the spitball that was now running down Kurt's cheek, there would be hell to pay and he would make sure of that. However, since it was Elie that had thrown the spitball that had unintentionally hit him, he would have to let it go…right after throwing the spitball at another target and that next target was Kyler because he was now currently laughing the loudest.

Kyler kept laughing as the spitball hit him in the back of the head. He reached back and pulled the parts of the spitball that were not stuck to his hair and brought them back together with his own spit. He then turned around to throw the spitball back at Kurt and Johnny. Both of them moved their heads out of the way and the extra moist ball got Maura right in the middle of the forehead.

Maura let out a little squeal similar to Victoria's, but with a slightly higher pitch, and removed the spitball from her forehead. She then threw it back to the front of the room. That's when the mayhem started.

Spitballs and paper airplanes from different parts of the room were flying everywhere and hitting anything in their paths. Squeals from the girls and laughs from the guys filled the air as they got hit with spitballs and paper airplanes.

Shanks shrugged as the things were hitting anything in their path. It seemed like they were having fun and had no intention of stopping what they were doing. Besides, it was Monday and, as far as he knew, Mondays were the days where the kids in no way paid any attention to anybody. That's how it was when he was in school and it seemed to be true here on Starlight Island. Whenever spitballs or airplanes came in his direction, he flinged them back in any direction, hitting students, desks, floors, and even walls.

Everybody was throwing spitballs and airplanes at each other…well, everyone except for Lynn. Lynn was doing her best to dodge the airplanes and spitballs that were thrown at her, particularly the spitballs. The airplanes weren't as bad so she simply threw those back. However, rather than squealing like Maura, Victoria, and Elie, she actually screamed when the spitballs hit her. She even screamed when the spitball hit her desk and a little drop of spit hit her sleeve.

The fight kept going on and on without stopping. Now it seemed the targets were anything that happened to be moving, which probably was not a very smart target to choose. The doorknob of the closed classroom door turned and slowly the door opened. As soon as the door opened, airplanes and spitballs headed towards the opened part of the door to attack what was standing there. A loud and angry voice from the opened area bellowed, "What the Hell?!"

The throwing stopped and most of the members of the room broke into laughter. They had just attacked the principal of the school.

-----------------

A/N: Okay, I finally got a new chapter done. Sorry it took so long, but school got in the way of my writing.

I got the idea of the school uniforms from my sister. She helped me pick out which colors would look horrible together and what students would never want their uniforms to look like. So, thanks again, Blitzballgirl. If any of you have any suggestions or caught something that I might not have explained or gotten incorrect, do not hesitate to let me know…in fact, I encourage you to let me know if you catch something I said incorrectly.


End file.
